This site is the most comprehensive on the web devoted to trans history and biography. Well over 1700 persons worthy of note, both famous and obscure, are discussed in detail, and many more are mentioned in passing.

There is a detailed Index arranged by vocation, doctor, activist group etc. There is also a Place Index arranged by City etc. This is still evolving.

In addition to this most articles have one or more labels at the bottom. Click one to go to similar persons. There is a full list of labels at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar. There is also a search box at the top left. Enjoy exploring!

28 December 2021

some 2021 trans obituaries

 Joe Tish (1924-2021) New York performer.  Active from the 1950s.  In the late 1960s Tish had a long-running show at the Crazy Horse, and was also in the 1960’s travelling act, French Box Revue. Tish was one of the few performers who sometimes left the club dressed as female. Once a club where he was performing was raided by the police, but they shooed him away assuming that he was a woman. Joe would be refused admission to the Stonewall Tavern when in costume, although he was so admitted at some uptown straight clubs, where his artistry was recognized. Tish continued performing after retirement.  Died forty days before 97th birthday.

Tish, on the right, at Crazy Horse.  


Christina Hayworth (194? - 2021) Stonewall Veteran and Puerto Rican trans activist.



Robina Asti (1921 - 2021) pilot, flight instructor.   She had to fight the system to get her survivor benefits when her husband died.   The bureaucracy maintained that that she had not been legally a woman at the time of her marriage.  She continued to fly into her 90s.  Died age 99.


Byun Hui-Su (1998- 2021) first known trans soldier in South Korea.  Discharged after surgery.  Found dead at home age 22. 



April Ashley (1935 - 2021) model, actress and co-wrote 3 autobiographies.  Victim of a politically-engineered divorce trial in 1969 that removed most rights for all UK transsexuals for over 30 years.  Died age 86.  






19 December 2021

Buddy Kent (1921 - ?) male impersonator, x-ray technician

Buddy Kent was originally Malvina Schwartz of Brownsville, Brooklyn a predominantly Jewish area. As a teenager she rode into Greenwich Village to explore the lesbian bars in the shadow of the 6th Avenue El. She soon changed her last name to Kent, wore a cross and lipstick, as Jews and lesbians did not get employed. During WWII, Kent played trumpet in the Women’s Army Corps band. From then on she was Buddy.

“Then at eighteen I was of age and I walked into Ernie’s, got my first job as a bartender, which I had never done. When Ernie interviewed me, he said, ‘What do you do?’ And I said ‘Everything, everything.’ So he put me behind the bar, and I was in full drag at this point: pants, vest, shirt, tie, short hair. I worked like that for a year. Then the liquor board came in and thought I looked too young. One reached across the bar, touched my face and said, ‘He isn’t even a shaver!’ But Ernie had all the connections. He took the men in the back, paid them off, and from then on, he said, ‘I’ll have you tend bar from eight to twelve. After midnight a girl cannot be behind the bar.’ Because now my cover was blown: I was a girl.”

She tended bar and took dance lessons. Buddy’s break came at Club 181, located at 181 Second Ave on the Lower East Side of Manhattan - which was run by Anna Genovese, the lesbian wife of top mafioso Vito Genovese. Many butches worked at Club 181 either as waiters or as chorus boys. Buddy Kent started as a chorus boy and then did a solo act, a Fred Astaire impersonation with black tails, top hat and a cane.

The hookers at Club 181 were organized by a madame, Lucille Malin, the widow of 1930s drag/pansy star Jean Malin.

Buddy, left

In 1949 the police raided the 181 because the neighbours had been complaining about seeing the performers go in to work in drag.  Buddy shrugged that off.

 “ 'An unhealthy atmosphere for their kids', they said. I got out the back way. If they took you in, it was usually for ‘disturbing the peace’ or 'impersonating’ somebody of the opposite sex."



One of the masculine lesbians whom Buddy knew was Angela Calomiris (1916-1995), who was initially active in the Photo League (for budding photographers) and then had risen within the US Communist Party and become its finance secretary, where she had access to the real names of all members. In July 1948 twelve leaders of the party were charged with advocating an overthrow of the US government. During the trial, in April 1949, Calomiris was called as a prosecution witness (the one and only time she was known to wear a dress), to much surprise, and was outed as an FBI asset. She became a minor celebrity and wrote an autobiography, Red Masquerade: Undercover for the FBI, 1950.

Calomaris

Calomaris also informed to the FBI re Yetta Cohn, a policewoman who was the editor of the NYPD newsletter. Cohn was the girlfriend of rising film star Judy Holliday (1921-1965  - Best Actress Oscar 1950) despite the latter’s supposed heterosexual marriage. Among other things, Calomaris accused Cohn of being a supporter of Henry Wallace (who had been Roosevelt’s Vice President and ran as the Progressive Party presidential candidate in 1948). Cohn was then unemployed for many years but was supported by Holliday. Calomaris' testimony also enabled the FBI to terminate the Photo League in 1949, by accusing it of being ‘communist’.

Calomaris then moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she became a rich landlord, and opened up the town to lesbians. Her mentor in the Photo League, Sid Grossman never worked again in New York as a photographer. He and his wife moved to Provincetown, opened a photography school and fished. They sold their catch on the street. He died in 1955 age 42.

The Club 181 lost its liquor license in 1953 after being mentioned in USA Confidential as a gay club. The same management then opened the 82 Club around the corner at 82 E 4th St.

Buddy moved on - at first with Kicky Hall and his review. They went to the Jockey Club, a gay club in Atlantic City. On return, Kicky booked Kent into the Moroccan Village, on 8th St in Greenwich Village.

At one time in 1950 the Moroccan Village got closed down after an attempted robbery and a shooting. The performer during the shooting was the male impersonator/trans man Blackie Dennis. The Moroccan Village was able to open up again after a couple of months.

It was at Jimmy Kelly’s on Sullivan Street that Buddy Kent became Bubbles Kent, Exotic Dancer. “Because I wanted to get in on some of the big money,” She was still doing her Fred Astaire act, but concluded it by stripping down to sexy underwear.

Buddy became, with Jackie Howe and Kicky Hall, the partial owner of a club, the Page Three (with the obligatory mafia participation). That flourished for some ten years into the 1960s until changes in musical tastes took the crowds away.  Kicky Hall was also Buddy and Jackie's agent.

Afterwards Buddy became an X-Ray technician at St Vincent’s Hospital. She maintained her apartment on 8th St across from the old Whitney Museum. Jackie Howe and Kicky Hall lived in the same building.

In later years Buddy became involved with the local branch of Senior Action in a Gay Environment (SAGE) (now Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders). Buddy was popular there in that with her show-biz experience she was ideal to run the social.

On 1983, Buddy was interviewed and tape-recorded by Joan Nestle for the Lesbian Herstory Archives (LHA).

Buddy ran again into Angela Calomiris, who was back in Manhattan, and encouraged her to join SAGE. She also got to know Lisa E Davis, who drew on the memories of Buddy and others for her novel, Under the Mink, set in 1949, and then wrote several articles about Buddy.

Calomaris finally retired to San Miguel de Allende/Guanajuato, in the hill country of central Mexico with her wife.

Buddy’s date of death is not recorded. Apparently it was shorty after her friend Jackie Howe died, and then one of Buddy’s sisters.

  • Lisa E Davis. Under the Mink. Intoprint, 2001.
  • Lisa E Davis. “Back in Buddy’s day”. Xtra, February 28, 2006. Online.
  • C Alexander Hortis. The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York. Prometheus Books, 2014: 169, 171.
  • Lisa E Davis. “Buddy Kent, aka Bubbles Kent, Exotic Dancer”. West View News, 10/03/2015. Online.
  • Lisa E Davis. “The Red Scare's Lesbian Informant”. Advocate, April 07 2017. Online.
  • Lisa E Davis. Undercover Girl: the lesbian informant who helped the FBI bring down the Communist Party. Imagine book, 2017: 24-7, 32-3, 37, 173, 203, 227n6-7.
  • Hugh Ryan. “The Three Lives of Malvina Schwartz”. Hazlitt, October 12, 2016. Online.
  • Dylan Foley. “Lisa E. Davis, Greenwich Village historian, author of Under the Mink and Undercover Girl”.  The Last Bohemians, May 30, 2020. Online.
-----------------

Apart from articles about Buddy, Kicky (Kiki) Hall seems to have disappeared from History.  The only other mention that I could find is the preface to The Queens: Photographs by George Alpert.  A De Capo Paperback, 1975.  He introduced Alpert to various trans women to be photographed including International Chrysis and Kim Christy

I do not know why Mr Hall took the name Kiki.  In the 1940s and 1950s 'kiki' among female impersonators and femme men was loving each other rather than going with a butch man.  Among lesbians it was a woman who resisted becoming either a butch or a femme.  That is, they were gender non-conformists relative to the gay/lesbian conventions.  They were super queer.

15 December 2021

Books on Gender Variance in 2021

 



$£¥ €=Excessively overpriced books. 

  • Ludiane de Brocéliande. Ma fille est un homme: dysphorie de genre.
  • Kristi Carter & James Brunton. TransNarratives: Scholarly and Creative Works on Transgender Experience. Women’s Press, 2021.
  • KJ Cerankowski. Suture: Trauma and Trans Becoming. Punctum Books, 2021.
  • Laura Kate Dale. Gender Euphoria: Stories of joy from trans, non-binary and intersex writers.Unbound, 2021.
  • Shon Faye. The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice. Penguin, 2021.
  • Alessandra Lemma. Transgender Identities: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge, 2021.
  • Finn Mackay. Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars: The Politics of Sex.I B Tauris, 2021.
  • Letícia Carolina Nascimento. Transfeminismo: Feminismos Plurais.Perfect Paperback, 2021.
  • Ilinca Negru. Transsexualität und Anpassungsstörungen. Verlag Unser Wissen, 2021.
  • $£¥ €Mike Perez, Rachel Friedman & John C Lamothe (ed). Beyond Binaries: Trans Identities in Contemporary Culture. Lexington Books, 2021.
  • Gabrielle Poulin. Trans, citoyens d'un autre genre: Comprendre la transidentité et les transgenres. Les Editions du Net, 2021.
  • $£¥ €Miguel Angel Bustamante Roa. Discriminación hacia personas transgénero: Desafíos para un trabajo social en Derechos Humanos.  Editorial Académica Española, 2019.
  • Edward Schiappa.The Transgender Exigency: Defining Sex and Gender in the 21st Century. Routledge, 2021.
  • Eric A Stanley.Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable. Duke University Press, 2021.
  • Murray Thompson. Transgender - The Gender Asynchronicity: What Causes It?
  • Yoshiki Kumamiya. Gender Dysphoria and LGBT: Elucidate various gender problems with four genders. 2021.

Media


  • $£¥ €Akkadia Ford. Trans New Wave Cinema. Routledge, 2021.
  • Magali Daniela Perez Riedel. Transmedia and Public Representation: Transgender People in Film and Television. Peter Lang, 2021.
  • Angela Zottola. Transgender Identities in the Press: A Corpus-based Discourse Analysis.Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.

Religious


  • Vincent Gil. A Christian’s Guide through the Gender Revolution: Gender, Cisgender, Transgender, and Intersex. Kindle, 2021.
  • Bernard Massarini. Homosexuels et transgenres en église - une éthique repensée. Nouvelle Cita, 2021.
  • Jake Thibault & Alan Syah. Transgender Ideology & Gender Dysphoria: A Catholic Response.Bowker, 2021.
  • Vaughan Roberts. Transgender: Talking Points. The Good Book Company.
  • Preston M Sprinkle. Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say. David C Cook, 2021.

Legal & Activism


  • $£¥ €Peter Goodrich & Katrin Trustedt (eds). Laws of Transgression: The Return of Judge Schreber. University of Toronto Press, 2021.
  • $£¥ € Senthorun Raj and Peter Dunne(eds). The Queer Outside in Law: Recognising LGBTIQ People in the United Kingdom. Palgrave MacMillan, 2021.
  • $£¥ € Senthorun Raj. Feeling Queer Jurisprudence: Injury, Intimacy, Identity. Routledge, 2021.

Philosophy


  • Patricia Gherovici. Transgenre : Lacan et la différence des sexes. Editions Stilus, 2021.
  • Linda a W Brakel. The Trans Phenomenon and the Nature of Self: Moore's Paradox? More Paradoxes! De Gruyter, 2021.
  • Denis Collin. Transgénero: Un posthumanismo al alcance de todos los presupuestos. 2021.
  • Jules Joanne Gleeson & Elle O’Rourke. Transgender Marxism. 2021.

Autism


  • Yenn Purkis & Wenn B Lawson. The Autistic Trans Guide to Life.Jessica Kingsley, 2021.

Health, Medical and Social Work


  • Lore M Dickey. Case Studies in Clinical Practice with Trans and Gender Non-Binary Clients: A Handbook for Working with Children, Adolescents, and Adults. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
  • Peter J Hegarty. A Recent History of Lesbian and Gay Psychology: From Homophobia to LGBT. Routledge, 2018.
  • Carole Hooven. T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us. Henry Holt & Co, 2021.
  • Bruce Owens Grimm, Tiff Ferentini & Miguel M Morales (eds). Fat and Queer: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Bodies and Lives. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
  • $£¥ €Alex Keuoghlian, Jennifer Potter & Sari L Reisner. Transgender and Gender Diverse Health Care: The Fenway Guide. McGraw-Hill, 2021
  • Gerald Mallon. Strategies for Child Welfare Professionals Working with Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth.Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
  • $£¥ €Dmitriy Nikolavsky & Stephen Blakely. Urological Care for the Transgender Patient: A Comprehensive Guide. Springer, 2020.
  • Tracie O’Keefe. Suicide in Intersex, Trans and Other Sex and/or Gender Diverse Groups: A Health Professional's Guide. Australian Health & Education Centre, 2021
  • $£¥ €Christina Richards. Trans and Sexuality: An existentially-informed enquiry with implications for counselling psychology. Routledge, 2021.
  • Stef M Shuster. Trans Medicine_ The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender.New York University Press, 2021.
  • Dirk Stabernack. Transsexualität und Genitaloperation: soziale und politische Effekte.Kindle, 2019.

Biology


  • PJ Paulson. Not a Choice: What you weren't taught about the biology of sex and gender. Handsel Publishers, 2021.

Arts & Photography


  • Kerryn Greenberg & Allen Sarah. Zanele Muholi.Tate, 2021.
  • Steve McCurry. Belonging: Portraits from LGBTQ Thailand. The New Press, 2921.
  • $£¥ €Leisa Rundquist. The Power and Fluidity of Girlhood in Henry Darger’s Art. Routledge, 2021.

Sports


  • Sonja Erikainen.Gender Verification and the Making of the Female Body in Sport: A History of the Present. Routledge, 2021.
  • John Robert. Laurel Hubbard and the Transgender People in Sports. 2021.

Guidebooks


  • Freiya Benson. The Anxiety Book for Trans People: How to Conquer Your Dysphoria, Worry Less and Find Joy. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
  • Guilherme Catani.A Voz no Processo Transexualizador: Um guia para transição vocal. 2021,
  • Jillian Celentano. Transitioning Later in Life: A Personal Guide.Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
  • Linda Gromko. A Practical Reference for Transgender & Gender-Nonconforming Adults. Bainbridge Books, 2021.
  • Jennie Kermode. Growing Older as a Trans and/or Non-Binary Person: A Support Guide. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.

Trans Children & Youth


  • Susan Evans. Gender Dysphoria: A Therapeutic Model for Working with Children, Adolescents and Young Adults. Phoenix, 2021.
  • Christian Flavigny, Aider les enfants « transgenres » : Contre l'américanisation des soins. Pierre Téqui éditeur, 2021.
  • Lindsay Herriot & Kate Fry. Growing Up Trans: In Our Own Words. Orca Books, 2021.
  • $£¥ €Daniel Marshall. Queer Youth Histories. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
  • Wilhelm F Preuss. Geschlechtsdysphorie, Transidentität und Transsexualität im Kindes- und Jugendalter: Diagnostik, Psychotherapie und Indikationsstellungen für die ... der Kinder- und Jugendlichenpsychotherapie.Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, 2021.
  • Karl White. Transgender Teen: Identification to Expression.

Couples & Family


  • Krys Malcolm Belc. The Natural Mother of the Child: A Memoir of Nonbinary Parenthood. 2021.
  • Sezanne Dewitt Hall. Reaching for Hope: Strategies and support for the partners of transgender people. DH Strategies, 2021
  • Laurence Hérault. La parenté transgenre. Presses universitaires de Provence, 2021

HBS 


  • Charlotte Goiar. The Original Harry Benjamin Syndrome Book. 2021.


Non-Binary

  • Jolie NicCionaoith. Enby in the World: Resilient, queer and still Here.2021

Intersex


  • Samuel Champagne. Noa, intersexe. De Mortagne, 2021.
  • Leah DeVun. The Shape of Sex: Nonbinary Gender from Genesis to the Renaissance.Columbia University Press, 2021.
  • J Noble. Intesex Pride,
  • Stephenie Vaughan. Half Him Half Her: When do I get to be ME. Cockatoo, 2021.

-------------------

  • Ian D Richardson. God’s Triangle. Preddon Lee, 2013. A mysterious marriage annulment between missionaries the Rev and Mrs Frank Paice in Bengal in 1919, and the court records were sealed. She had AIS.

Reissued as a novel:

  • Ian D Richardson. Florrie: A Life Unexpected. Preddon Lee, 2021.

-------------------

Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779), Polish, became a general in the US Continental Army and died in battle against Britain. Analyses of his remains suggest that he had XX chromosomes and congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

  • Rachelle Adie. The Life And Legacy Of The Polish Commander: Casimir Pulaski. 2021.
  • Tyisha Angermeier. The Life And Legacy Of The Polish Commander: Casimir Pulaski.2021
  • Rosalind Bonine.Casimir Pulaski: A Hero Who Fought For Independence And Freedom In Poland And The United States.
  • Frida Bousum. Casimir Pulaski: A Hero Who Fought For Independence And Freedom In Poland And The United States. 2021.
  • Danielo Clamp. Casimir Pulaski Book: The Father Of The American Cavalry. 2021.
  • Saturnina Puraty. Casimir Pulaski Book: The Father Of The American Cavalry. 2021


AutoBiography


  • Precious Brady-Davis. I Have Always Been Me: A Memoir. Topple Books, 2021.
  • P Carl.Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition. Simon & Shuster, 2021.
  • Joanna Clark & Margot Wilson. Before My Warranty Runs Out: Human, Transgender and Environmental Rights Advocate. TransGender Publishing, 2021.
  • Aria DiMezzo. Dancing in Hellfire: Life as Transgender to Mississippi Drug-Addicted Fundamentalists. 2017.
  • Mael Embser-Herbert. With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in Their Own Words..New York University Press, 2021.
  • Finlay Games. Top To Bottom: A Memoir and Personal Guide Through Phalloplasty.Jessica Findley, 2021.
  • Forest Handford. A Trans Feminist's Past. Transgender Publishing, 2021
  • Leyla Jagiella. Among the Eunuchs: A Muslim Transgender Journey. Oxford University Press, 2021.
  • Jan Morris. Thinking Again. Faber, 2021.
  • Jude Patton & Margot Wilson. Young Kid, Old Goat: Transgender Journey to Understanding the Man Within.Castle-Carrington, 2021,
  • Paris Lees. What It Feels Like for a Girl. Particular Books, 2021.
  • Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: Sacred Intent: Conversations with Carl Abrahamsson 1986-2019. Trapart Books, 2020.
  • Genesis P-Orridge. Non-binary: A memoir.Abrams Press, 2021.
  • Paul B Preciado. Countersexual manifesto: subverting gender identities. Columbia University Press, 2018.
  • Paul B Preciado. Can the Monster Speak? Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2021.
  • Aaron Raz link & Hilda Raz. What Becomes You. University of Nebraska Press, 2021.
  • Chloe Schwenke. Self-ish: A Transgender Awakening. Red Hen Press, 2018.
  • Paula Stone Williams. As a Woman: What I Learned about Power, Sex, and Patriarchy after I Transitioned. Atria Booke, 2021.
  •  The TaraElla Story. 2021.

Biographical sketches


These books are a very few brief sketches of well-known trans persons. Alternatively you can visit zagria.blogspot.com for more reliable essays and almost 2000 persons.

  •  Anon. 11 Remarkable Transgender People From History. 2021.
  • Katia Coen. Trilogie des Transgenres et Travestis célèbres. Kindel, 2020.
  • Shelby Criswell.Queer As All Get Out: 10 People Who've Inspired Me. Street Noise Books, 2021.

Biography


  • Rebecca Birrell. This Dark Country: Women Artists, Still Life and Intimacy in the Early Twentieth Century.Bloomsbury, 2021.
  • Juliette Jourdan. The Girl From Casablanca. 2021. (The story of Jenny, Burou’s first trans client, although rendered as a novel).
  • Sabrina Symingto Coming Out, Again: Transition Stories. Jessica Kingsley, 2021.
  • Lee Wind.No Way, They Were Gay?: Hidden Lives and Secret Loves. Zest Books, 2021.
  • Raimund Wolfert. Charlotte Charlaque: Transfrau, Laienschauspielerin, „Königin der Brooklyn Heights Promenade“. Hentrich und Hentrich Verlag, 2021.

Spouse Autobiography


  • Alexandra Heminsley. Somebody to love: A Family Story. Chatto, 2020.

Doctor & Allies Biography


  • Cheri Dinovo. The Queer Evangelist: A Socialist Clergy's Radically Honest Tale. Wilfrid Laurier University Press , 2021.
  • Gayle E Pitman.  Evelyn Hooker and the Fairy Project. Magination Press, 2021.
  • Martin J Smith. Going to Trinidad: A Doctor, a Colorado Town, and Stories from an Unlikely Gender Crossroads. Bower House, 2021.

Changeback


  • Walt Heyer (ed), Trans Life Survivors.Bowker Identifier Services, 2018.
  • Max Robinson. Detransition: Beyond Before and After. Spinifex press, 2021.

Trans/GLBT history


  • Chris Bryant. The Glamour Boys: The Secret Story of the Rebels who Fought for Britain to Defeat Hitler. Bloomsbury, 2020.
  • Netta Murray Goldsmith. The Worst of Crimes: Homosexuality and the Law in Eighteenth-Century London. Routledge, 1998, 2020.
  • $£¥ € Dominic Janes. Freak to Chic: "Gay" Men in and out of Fashion after Oscar Wilde. Bloomsbury, 2021.
  • Ula Lukszo Klein. Sapphic Crossings: Cross-Dressing Women in Eighteenth-Century British Literature. University of Virginia Press, 2021.
  • Greta LaFleur, Masha Raskolnikov, Anna Klosowska (eds). Trans Historical: Gender Plurality before the Modern. Cornell University Press, 2021.
  • Aaron Lecklider. Love’s Next Meeting: The Forgotten History of Homosexuality and the Left in American Culture. University of California Press, 2021.
  • Zoe Playdon. The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes. Simon & Schuster, 2021.
  • $£¥ €Christian P Potholm. Hiding in Plain Sight: Women Warriors throughout Time and Space. Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
  • $£¥ €Emily Rose. Translating Transgender Identity: (Re)Writing Undecidable Texts and Bodies. Routledge, 2021.
  • Norena Shopland. A History of Women in Men's Clothes: From Cross-Dressing to Empowerment.Pen and Sword, 2021.
  • Alicia Spencer-Hall & Blake Gutt (eds). Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography. Amsterdam University Press, 2021.
  • Shaun Tougher. The Roman Castrati: Eunuchs in the Roman Empire. Bloomsbury, 2021.

Race and Gender


  • Emilio Amideo. Queer Tidalectics: Linguistic and Sexual Fluidity in Contemporary Black Diasporic Literature. Northwestern University Press, 2021.
  • Francisco J Brown Trans Figurations: Rethinking Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Chicanx/Latinx Studies. University of Texas Press, 2021.
  • Ellie D. Hernández, Eddy Francisco Alvarez& Magda García. Transmovimientos: Latinx Queer Migrations, Bodies, and Spaces. University of Nebraska Press, 2021.

Cultures and minorities


  • Sandra Besso. Vulnerabilidades e fortalezas na saúde dos trabalhadores transgêneros no município do Rio de Janeiro. 2020.
  • Howard Chiang. Transtopia in the Sinophone Pacific.Columbia University Press, 2021.
  • Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes. Translocas: The Politics of Puerto Rican Drag and Trans Performance. University of Michigan Press, 2021.
  • Todd A Henry. Queer Korea. Duke University Press, 2020.
  • Karen Jaime. The Queer Nuyorican: Racialized Sexualities and Aesthetics in Loisaida. New York University Press, 2021.
  • $£¥ € Marzia Mauriello.An Anthropology of Gender Variance and Trans Experience in Naples: Beauty in Transit. Palgrave MacMillan, 2021.
  • Baker A Rogers. King of Hearts: Drag Kings in the American South. Rutgers University Press, 2021.
  • Vaibhav Saria. Hijras, Lovers, Brothers: Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India.Fordham University Press, 2021.
  • Chad Waligora. Stories About The Delhi's Red-Light District: A New Perspective Regarding The Lives Of The Prostitutes: The Ins And Outs Of Sex Workers Business.Kindle, 2021
  • Meghan Walley. Incorporating Nonbinary Gender into Inuit Archaeology: Oral Testimony and Material Inroads. Routledge, 2021.

Poetry


  • Roz Kaveney.Selected Poems. Team Angelica Publishinh, 2021.

Words


  • Dennis Baron. What's Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She. Liveright, 2021.
  • Ana Horvat, Orly Lael, Sarah McRae & Jukie Rak (eds), Trans Narratives: trans, transmedia, transnational. Routledge, 2021.
  • $£¥ €D F Koz. A Quick and Easy Guide to Neopronouns. 2021.
  • Michelle Mann. Not 'Him' or 'Her': A Quick Guide to Using and Understanding Non-Binary Pronouns. 2021.
  • Nevo Zisin. The Pronoun Lowdown: Demystifying and Celebrating Gender Diversity. Smith Street Books, 2021.

Encyclopedias & Dictionaries


  • Chloe D Davis. The Queens' English: The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases. Clarkson Potter, 2021.
  • Matthew Faustus & Jamie Ray. The Little Dictionary Of Gender Identity. Lulu, 2021.
  • $£¥ € Abbie Goldberg (eds). The Sage Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies. Sage, 2016.
  • $£¥ € Abbie Goldberg & Genny Beemyn (eds). The Sage Encyclopedia of Trans Studies. Sage, 2021.

Written by a trans person


  • Alex Sharpe. David Bowie Outlaw; Essays on Difference, Authenticity, Ethics, Art & Love.  Routledge, 2021.
  • Allyn Walker. A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity. University of California Press, 2021.

Fiction


  • Callum Angus. A Natural History of Transition.Metonymy Press, 2021.
  • Tara Gereaux. Saltus. Nightwood Editions, 2021.

Transphobic


  • Heather Brunskell-Evans. Transgender Body Politics. Spinifex, 2020.
  • Gerard Casey. Hidden Agender: Transgenderism's Struggle Against Reality. Societas, 2021.
  • Maria Keffler. Desist, Detrans, Detox: Getting Your Child out of the Gender Cult. Partners for Ethical Care, 2021.
  • Walt Heyer. Articles of Impeachment against Sex Change Surgery. 2020.
  • Helen Joyce. Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality. Oneworld, 2021.
  • Janice Raymond. Doublethink: A Feminist Challenge to Transgenderism. Spinifex Press, 2021.
  • Debra Soh. The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society. Threshold Editions, 2021.
  • Kathleen Stock. Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism. Fleet, 2021.
  • Ashley St Clair. Elephants are not Birds. Brave Books, 2021.

Announced for 2022


  • Myriam Daguzan Bernier, Cécile Gariépy, et al. Naked: Not Your Average Sex Encyclopedia. Orca, 2022.
  • Marquis Bey. Black Trans Feminism. Duke University Press, 2022.
  • Alexandra Billings. This Time for Me: A Memoir. Topple Books, 2022.
  • Laura Kate Dale (ed). Gender Euphoria. Unbound, 2022.
  • $£¥ €Katelyn Dykstra & Shoshannah Bryn Jone Square (eds). Intersex Studies and the Health and Medical Humanities: Sex and Medicine. Bloomsbury, 2022.
  • Kristin Kali. Queer Conception: The Complete Fertility Guide for Queer and Trans Parents-to-Be.Sasquatch Books, 20220
  • Diana Goetsch. This Body I Wore: A Memoir. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022.
  • Shana Goldin-Perschbacher. Queer Country.University of Illinois Press, 2022.
  • Paris Lees. What It Feels Like for a Girl.Penguin, 2022.
  • Huw Lemmy & Ben Miller.Bad Gays: A Homosexual History. Verso, 2022.
  • Sarah Mei Herman. Solace: Portraits of Queer Youth in Modern China. The New Press, 2022.
  • Hal Malatino. Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad.University of Minnesota Press, 2022.
  • $£¥ € Joaquin Piedra & Eric Anderson. Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender Athletes in Latin America. Palgrave MacMillan, 2021,
  • Philippa Punchard. Gender Pioneers: A Celebration of Transgender, Non-Binary and Intersex Icons. Jessica Kingsley, 2022.
  • Danica Roem. Burn the Page: A True Story of Torching Doubts, Blazing Trails, and Igniting Change. Viking, 2022
  • Wendy Rouse. Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement.New York University Press, 2022.
  • Robyn Ryle. She/He/They/Me: An Interactive Guide to the Gender Binary.Sourcebooks, 2022.
  • Alice Schwarzer & Chantal Louis (eds).Transsexualität: Was ist eine Frau? Was ist ein Mann? - Eine Streitschrift. KiWi-Taschenbuch, 2022.
  • $£¥ € Lopamudra Sengupta. Human Rights of the Third Gender in India: Beyond the Binary. Routledge India, 2022.
  • Julia Serani. Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back. Seal Press, 2022.
  • Gregory D Smithers. Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America. Beacon Press, 2022.
  • Allison Surtees & Jennifer Dyer (eds). Exploring Gender Diversity in the Ancient World. Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 
  • $£¥ € Gemma Witcomb & Elizabeth Peel (ed). Gender Diversity and Sport: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Increasing Inclusivity. Routledge, 2022.

11 December 2021

Debbie Hayton (1968 - ) physics teacher, trans arbiter

Hayton grew up in County Durham and was at Newcastle University when the Thatcher government passed Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 which resulted in a de facto ban on any mention of gay or trans topics in schools. Hayton did a BSc, 1989 and PhD, 1992 in atomic physics,  and became a physics teacher at secondary schools, mainly (2002 - now) in Coventry in the West Midlands. 

As a man Hayton married and had three children, and was also an active trade unionist. 

By 2011 Hayton was feeling a very strong desire to transition and had sessions with a psychotherapist who compelled an exploration of every alternative to transition. Following this, Hayton started transition as Debbie 20 December 2012, the very same day that another trans teacher Lucy Meadows was denounced in the Daily Mail, and eventually driven to suicide by the unrelenting press scrum outside her home and school. Debbie’s transition, by contrast, went well with support from fellow teachers and the union.

Debbie had completion surgery in 2016 at the age of 47. Mrs Hayton has stayed as her wife. 

Debbie set herself up almost immediately as an arbiter of all things trans. Since 2016 she has been an opponent of self-identification. She has written on trans topics for most of the Conservative-supporting press: The Daily Mail, The Times, The Economist, The Telegraph, and has a regular column in The Spectator, UnHerd and Russia Today (RT),

In May 2019, TES (previously Times Educational Supplement) published an article on its front-page by Hayton on trans issues in schools where she endorsed the Transgender Trend guide which regards trans in children as ‘simple social contagion’ via rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), is against medical assistance to trans kids and advises teachers to tell classmates that one cannot change sex.


In December 2019 Hayton wore a T-shirt at an event organised by Fair Play For Women (one of the largest and best-funded campaign groups working to oppose reforms to the Gender Recognition Act) which (mimicking a slogan by Stonewall) stated that "Trans women are men. Get over it."


Hayton has spoken up for the LGB Alliance, a splinter group from Stonewall UK founded in 2019 in opposition to Stonewall’s postions re trans persons. The Alliance in return describes Hayton as “one of our bravest trans allies”.

Hayton has expressed opposition to the Yogyakarta Principles; the Resolution 2048 of the Council of Europe; Self-identification; the concept of Gender Identity; the provision of Puberty Blockers to children; trans women using women’s toilets; Eddie Redmayne apologising for taking a trans role.


  • Nick Duffy. “Education magazine TES loses star columnist over transphobia row” Pink News,May 11, 2019.
  • Emma Powys Maurice. “Transgender woman accused of hate speech after wearing t-shirt proclaiming ‘trans women are men’ “. Pink News, December 23, 2019. Online.
  •  “Debbie Hayton, Not in Our Name.”. Steph’s Place, 26thMarch 2021. Online.
  • Debbie Hayton. “ 'It's a betrayal of children to ban experts from asking tough questions before they can change gender': Transwoman DEBBIE HAYTON gives her view on a new Government bill which she fears will have damaging, unintended consequences”, Daily Mail, 3 December 2021. Online.

EN.Wikipedia      debbiehayton.com       Twitter       LinkedIn

__________________________

We have considered several on these pages who regard who regard that what worked for them should be imposed on others (Virginia Prince), and what did not work for them should be banned (Alan FinchWalt Heyer).  Of course no approach works for all.  We are very different and have different needs.

There is a divide among trans persons between those who regard therapy as essential and those for whom such a requirement is at best an irritant. 

There is an important typology re transsexuals who require therapy and those who do not.   That of Anne Vitale.  Like all typologies, there are some trans persons who do not fit in it at all, but it explains more than other approaches.  Vitale's third type G3 is those who arrive in middle-age still acting heteronormatively as per their initial gender.  These persons suffer chronic gender dysphoria and do need a therapist to either help them stay in their initial gender or to start transition.  Vitale proposes the term Gender Deprivation Anxiety Disorder (GEDAD).   G3 person have often married and had children.    Within this typology, Hayter would certainly seem to be a G3.

Hayter presumes to know what is best for transkids.   Her perspective is that of a school teacher.  However she was never a transkid herself and cannot really understand them.  

Hayter seems to be a contrarian re almost everything advocated by and achieved by the trans movement, even though the trans movement is riven on many issues.   To be so contrarian she has allied with those who would "morally mandate us out of existence" (to use Raymond's words).  Hayton is not the first trans woman to seek validation from anti-trans organisations.  




05 December 2021

Leticia Carolina Nascimento (1990 - ) university lecturer

Nasciemento was born in Parnaíba, a coastal city in the north-east Brazilian state of Piauí, assigned male and raised by the maternal grandparents. Encouraged by the grandparents, and by the mother, Nasciemento graduated in pedagogy, and did a masters in education. 

Living initially as a gay man, Nasciemento taught for seven years in elementary school in Luís Correia, also on the coast of Piauí. In 2015 Nasciemento taught as a substitute teacher at Universidade Estadual do Piauí. Nasciemento had been increasingly living as female outside work. In 2017 she went public as Leticia with a lecture on queer theory called Corpo Sem Órgãos (Bodies without Organs). As she had already published academic articles under her male baptismal name, she was prevented from changing the name in her documents. 

In 2019 Leticia Nasciemento became a lecturer at the Universidade Federal do Piauí, the first trans woman ('mulher travesti') to do so. She commenced her PhD at the same time.


She describes herself as 

“Decolonial witch of becoming and of Sociopoetics (Feiticeira decolonial de devires e Bruxa da Sociopoética)"  ... "producing decolonial cartographies with black travestis from a mixed perspective of encounters between decolonial, feminist ideas and the philosophy of difference (produzindo cartografias decoloniais com travestis negras a partir de uma perspectiva mestiça de encontros entre ideias decoloniais, feministas e da filosofia da diferença)".

She considers that the greatest violence suffered by travestis in non-vulnerable environments is to be questioned about the fact that they are women. (Ela considera que a maior violência sofrida pelas travestis em ambientes não vulneráveis é a de serem questionadas quanto ao fato de serem mulheres. Cidadeverde, 2019)

In a paper in Research Society and Development, 2020, Nasciemento uses the concept of “heteroterrorismo curtural” in the education system: 

“And this way of thinking makes us question and perceive educational institutions, like schools, as one of the most efficient ones for fixing who we are and who others are, for establishing a division between the normal and the abnormal produced in them. And this split is produced by technologies of normalization - part of a system of know-power in which certain representations are authorized and others are made invisible, prohibited and invalidated, producing every utterance of cultural terrorism - reiterations that produce the genders and heterosexuality marked by incentives or inhibitions of behaviors to every lgbt-phobic joke, for example. (E esse modo de pensar nos faz questionar e perceber as instituições educativas, a exemplo da escola, como uma das mais eficientes para fixar quem nós somos e quem são os outros, estabelecer uma cisão entre os normais e os anormais produzidos nela. E esta cisão é produzida pelas tecnologias de normatização – parte de um sistema de saber-poder em que certas representações são autorizadas e outras invisibilizadas, proibidas e invalidadas, produzindo a cada enunciado eteroterrorismo cultural – reiterações que produzem os gêneros e a heterossexualidade marcadas por incentivos ou inibições de comportamentos a cada piada lgbtfóbica, por exemplo.)"

She is noted for her 2021 book, Transfeminismo: Feminismos Plurais, of which she says:

“It shows how more and more it is necessary for people to be open to different existences that do not necessarily fit into the binary and cisgender organization of the world. A first step in this direction is to know the experiences of those who are part of these groups and this book, written by a trans woman, black and fat, who is present in academic circles and is an inspiration for other transsexual and trans women, presents these experiences, it brings historical concepts and places transfeminism within other existing feminisms. (Mostra como cada vez mais é necessário que as pessoas estejam abertas às diversas existências que não necessariamente se encaixam no organização binária e cisgênera do mundo. Um primeiro passo nesse sentido é conhecer as experiências de quem faz parte desses grupos e esse livro, escrito por uma mulher travesti, negra e gorda, que está presente nos meios acadêmicos e é inspiração para outras mulheres transexuais e travestis, apresenta essas vivências, traz conceituações históricas e situa o transfeminismo dentro dos demais feminismos existentes.)”

  • “ ‘Ainda duvidam quando eu digo que sou professora’, diz 1ª travesti da UFPI”. Cidade Verde, 04/08/19. Online.
  • Ketryn Carvalho. “Letícia Carolina é a primeira travesti professora da UFPI; veja a entrevista”. Observatorio G, 2019. Online.
  • Letícia Carolina Nascimento. “Aprendizagens em educação e as diferenças – resistências ao heteroterrorismo cultural: que só os beijos te tapem a boca”. Research Society and Development, July 2020.
  • Roberto de Martin. “ ‘As mulheres trans e travestis entenderam a potência de movimentos feministas’ Letícia Carolina Nascimento conversa com CartaCapital sobre seu livro Transfeminismo, mais recente lançamento da Coleção Feminismos Plurais”. CartaCapotal, 12 de Junho de 2021. Online.
  • Letícia Carolina Nascimento. Transfeminismo: Feminismos Plurais. Perfect Paperback, 2021.

PT.Wikipedia      Google Academico        ResearchGate

21 November 2021

Gillian Cox(1938-1984) mycologist

Cox was born as Geoffrey Frank Laundon, and earned a BSc in Botany at the University of Sheffield in 1969. This led to being a mycologist at the Commonwealth Mycological Institute at Kew in London. 

Laundon specialized on rust fungi (then known as Urediniomycetes; now as Pucciniales). Rusts are considered among the most harmful pathogens to agriculture, horticulture and forestry. Rust fungi are major concerns and limiting factors for successful cultivation of agricultural and forest crops. White pine blister rust, wheat stem rust, soybean rust, and coffee rust are examples of notoriously damaging threats to crops. Laundon soon became well-known in the field for thorough, careful work on the class, first publishing new taxa in 1963.

In 1965 the Commonwealth Mycological Institute published Laundon’s book, The Generic Names of Uredinales. This was reviewed in the Transactions of the British Mycological Society

“Nomenclature at best is a tedious business for many of us, but until a better system is invented the best we can do is to have a set of names whose basis is firmly established. Mr Laundon has done this service for the generic names of rusts nobly.”

Among Laundon’s most important contributions was a new system of spore terminology published in 1967 - this was controversial at the time but was generally accepted later. 

In 1963 Laundon married Margaret Cox and they had three children. In 1965 they emigrated to New Zealand, where Laundon became mycologist at the Plant Health & Diagnostic Station at Levin, and continued to research the taxonomy and nomenclature of rusts. Laundon was an active member of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy and was on the Special Committee for Fungi and Lichens for a number of years. 

myrtle rust infections in NZ

Laundon was the first to realise there were two species involved when the poplar rusts were first found in New Zealand in 1972, a claim not verified until samples of the spores were examined with an electron microscope.

By 1977 Laundon had transitioned as Gillian. She was supported in this by her wife and children. She was initially involved in Hedesthia, the then major New Zealand trans group, but it was mainly oriented to transvestites. Gillian, using her wife’s surname, in 1976 set up Transformation, which was more focused on transsexual issues. Gillian and Margaret produced several information leaflets and fielded questions from transsexuals, interested public and professionals alike, seeking to aid and educate as many people and groups as they could. 

She placed an announcement in the New and Notes section of the Taxon journal: 

“Mr G. F. Laundon of the Plant Health & Diagnostic Station, Levin, New Zealand has changed sex as from the 22nd Jan. 1977 and is now known as Miss Gillian Laundon. She continues her work in plant pathology, mycology and nomenclature.” 

Actually she had become Gillian Fiona Laundon, which enabled her to take advantage of the practice of Onomastic Occlusion, that is to continue to publish professionally as “G F Laundon”. 

However at work some staff strongly opposed her using female toilets. She was restricted to only one toilet and threatened with disciplinary action if she used another. However she was supported by other colleagues including her controlling officer who wrote to the State Services Commission (SSC) on her behalf in order to suggest that guidelines be set up so that “transexuals be treated consistently in the public service”. She was supported by Leone Neil, also a Hedesthia member and public servant. By 1978 Laundon had won her case and was free to use whatever facility she pleased. 

However, the SSC did not implement any guidelines, and discrimination was still rife in the public service. In 1979 Laundon wrote in support of a trans woman in another department who was to be subjected to a vote by her colleagues over whether she should be able to use the female toilets.

Over her career Laundon collected at least 211 specimens and identified 539 that are in formal herbaria or culture collections. The species Phoma laundoniae is named in her honour.

Professional publications by G F Laundon:

  • “D.B.O. Savile, ,Collection and Care of Botanical Specimens Publication 1113 (1962) Canada Department of Agriculture, Research Branch,Ottawa xii + 124, 13 text-figures. Price: $2.00”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 46, 1, 1963.
  • “Uredopeltis (Uredinales)”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 46,3, 1963.
  • “Angusia (Uredinales)”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 47,3, 1964.
  • The Generic Names of Uredinales, Mycological Papers, No. 99. Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew, 1965.
  • “Terminology in the rust fungi”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 50, 2, 1967.
  • Review of “Malgolm Wilson, D.M. Henderson, British Rust Fungi (1966) Cambridge University Press”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 50, 2,1967.
  • “The taxonomy of the imperfect rusts”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 50, 3, 1967.
  • “Rust Names Attributed to Léveillé”. Taxon, 16, 3, 1967.
  • “A cold method for preparing dried reference cultures” Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 51, 3-4, 1968.
  • “The Status of Some of Persoon's Uredo Names”. Taxon, 17,2, 1968
  • “(319) Proposal to Delete the Generic Name Nigredo Persoon ex Roussel (1806) as a nomen rejiciendum of Uromyces (Link) Unger (1833) (Fungi)”. Taxon, 19, 6, 1970.
  • “The Lectotype for Uredo”. Taxon, 19,6, 1970.
  • “Records of fungal plant diseases in New Zealand”. New Zealand Journal of Botany, 8, 1, 1970.
  • “Additions to the rust fungi of New Zealand — 5”. New Zealand Journal of Botany, 8, 3, 1970.
  • “A new reinforcement for sealed fluid microslide mounts”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 56, 2, 1971.
  • “Records of Fungal Plant Diseases in New Zealand — 2”.New Zealand Journal of Botany, 9, 4, 1971.
  • “Delimitation of aecial from uredinial states”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 58, 2, 1972.
  • “Records and taxonomic notes on plant disease fungi in New Zealand”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 60, 2, 1973.
  • “Uromyces fallens and U. trifolii-repentis in New Zealand”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 61, 1, 1973.
  • “Proposals in Regard to the Emendment of Author Citations”. Taxon, 23, 5-6, 1974.
  • “Botryosphaeria obtusa, B. Stevensii, and Otthia spiraeae in New Zealand”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 61, 2, 1976.
  • “A new name for a New Zealand Phragmidium”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 67, 1, 1976.
  • “Peridermium (Fungi)”. Taxon, 25, 1, 1976.
  • “New host records of plant disease fungi in New Zealand”. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 21, 4, 1978.
  • “New plant disease record in New Zealand Uromycladium simplexon Acacia pycnantha”. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 21, 4, 1978.
  • Phoma rumicicola nov., a cause of leaf spots on Rumex obtusifolius”. New Zealand Journal of Botany, 18, 4, 1980.

Other publications:

  • D M Henderson. Review of “G F Laundon. The Generic Names of Uredinales Mycological Papers, No. 99”. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 48, 4, 1965.
  • Gillian Cox, ‘Friends,’ S-E-L-F,12, November 1976:
  • Gillian Cox, ‘Information service for transexuals,’ The Public Service Journal, 64, 6 July 1977:
  • Gillian Cox, ‘TransFormation Report 1977,’ Trans-Scribe, 1, 17, February 1978:
  • Gllian Cox, , ‘Prejudice against transexuals,’ The Public Service Journal, 66, 11 December 1979:
  • Gillian Cox. ”The Bible Says” and “Telling Your Secret”. Gender Review, 10, February 1981. Online.
  • J R Laundon (brother). “Geoffrey Frank Laundon”. Taxon, 34,1,1985.
  • Geoffrey C Ainsworth edited by John Webster & David Moore. "Laundon (Geoffrey Frank (from 22 Jan 1977 Gillian Fiona)". Brief Biographies of British Mycologists.  British Mycological Society, 1996. Online
  • Will Owen Hansen, “Every Bloody Right To Be Here” Trans Resistance in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1967-1989.MA Thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 2020: 3, 42, 44, 54, 72-3, 95,
  • Isabel Douglas. “LGBT History Month: Gillian Cox”. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, February 16, 2021. Online.

EN.Wikipedia

18 November 2021

Elke Mackenzie (1911 - 1990) lichenologist

Elke Mackenzie was born in London and raised in Scotland, and was given the name Ivan Mackenzie Lamb. Lamb did a B.Sc. in Botany at Edinburgh University and, with a scholarship from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, did further research at the universities of Munich and Würzburg. 

Lamb was employed as an assistant keeper at the British Museum in 1935, and was mentored by the recently retired pioneering lichenologist Annie Lorrain Smith who had worked in the museum’s cryptogamic herbarium 1892-1933, but who had to be paid from a special fund because officially the museum did not employ women. Lamb became especially interested in the lichen flora of the Antarctic, as it was comparatively unknown, and began studying early British, French, and Belgian Antarctic collections in Turku, Finland and Paris. While in Finland Lamb met and married a Finnish woman. Their first child was born in London during the Blitz, and Lamb was granted the degree of Doctor of Science from Edinburgh University in 1942 with a monographic thesis dealing with the hypothesis of the previous movement of the continents of the southern hemisphere based on studies of the Antarctic lichen flora. 

Lamb took a leave of absence from the British Museum in 1943 to join Operation Tabarin, a secret Antarctic expedition organized by the Admiralty on behalf of the Colonial Office to assert British sovereignty in the Antarctic Peninsula and the Falkland Islands Dependencies against Chilean and Argentinian claims, and against possible German naval actions. Lamb served in Antarctica from 1944 to 1946 as a cryptogamic botanist, but he assisted in the construction of bases at Port Lockroy and Hope Bay, which involved person-hauling and dog-sledging 800 miles.

Andrew Taylor in his account of the years in the Antarctic writes: 


“Dr. I. Mackenzie Lamb … in my opinion, possessed the best scientific mind of any of us. Subsequent events probably threw me into closer contact with Lamb than any other individual in our party. A diligent worker as well as a modest and courteous gentleman, he was one of the most unselfish characters I have ever met. It was a privilege to know him so well. Possessing a humour that at times approached elfishness, he was a most sincere and earnest person. Both logical and imaginative, he possessed a realism that did not allow any histrionics or dramatics to warp his steady judgment.” (p24)

Taylor comments on Lamb’s scientific studies, done in addition to the other duties at the base. 

“To most people, for example, the study of the botany of such a region would seem a most uninspiring prospect. To Lamb, a specialist in the study of mosses and lichens, it was an exciting challenge. All can recognize the moss that carpets the forests and climbs up the bases of the trunks of the trees in temperate regions. Perhaps few of us have noticed the lichen—or we pay scant attention to it. Prior to my meeting Lamb, I confess that I never more than casually noticed them, (p113) …Lamb’s diligence and persistence rewarded him with a large collection of lichens gathered from the various localities we visited on Wiencke Island, as well as those collected in the course of his ecological studies of Goudier Islet. Many of the species he collected were new to the Graham Land area, others were new to the Antarctic, and he found a few which were new to science. In addition, he highly prized a few blades of grass that he discovered in a crevice between the rocks of the rookery. His interest also included mosses as well as a variety of marine algae and flora. These specimens were not easily found, but one is amazed at the diversity and luxuriance of some of the growths that the cold rock-faces of the country support. (p114)”

In 1947 Lamb, with wife and child, took a teaching position at the Instituto Miguel Lillo at the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán in northwest Argentina. Lamb built up a collection of lichens, adding Argentinian and Brazilian specimens to those from Antarctica. One field trip ended in disaster when on returning via a mountain pass the wind was so intense that the strings came untied and the new specimens and their annotations were scattered over the mountain. 

In 1950 Lamb was offered a position as cryptogamic botanist at the National Museum in Ottawa. Perhaps because of the cost of moving it from Argentina, Lamb sold the herbarium (3,200 specimens with annotations) to the Museum, and either sold or donated an annotated library on the subject. 

Lamb left Ottawa on short notice in 1953 when  offered the Directorship of the Farlow Library and Herbarium at Harvard University. Unfortunately the Farlow had been inoperative for some time, there was no staff, not even janitorial, and there was a large backlog of unanswered correspondence. However the collection did include 1,400,000 specimens, including approximately 75,000 types, of lichenized and non-lichenized fungi, bryophytes, diatoms and algae. Mrs Lamb helped out with work at the Farlow. Lamb directed the Farlow Library and Herbarium for almost twenty years, extending an interest to algae and marine phycology as well as lichens, and trained in scuba diving for a return to the Antarctic to obtain marine specimens.

In the 1960s the Lambs experienced family and personal crises possibly resulting from feelings of gender incongruence. Mrs Lamb ran up debts in her husband’s name. Lamb started living in the Farlow, and at one point was taken to the University Infirmary with a stay of three weeks. Afterwards Lamb obtained a legal separation from Mrs Lamb. A psychiatrist advised a consultation with “a specialist in New York City in resolving a torment that left him uncomfortable with his gender” (presumably Harry Benjamin).

This was during the final stages of the Antarctic project. Lamb decided on transition, and also dropped her surname, taking her middle name, Mackenzie as her new surname and Elke as her personal name. She applied for a legal name change, new social security number and passport. Publications by Lamb started to acknowledge the technical assistance of Miss Elke Mackenzie. Elke also joined a theatre troupe directed by Laurence Senelick, the historian of theatre and drag performance.

Harvard arranged sabbatical leave in 1971 followed by a total disability retirement (Elke was only 60). Mackenzie turned to translating German botanical text books into English, and for some years lived in Costa Rica, building a house there. She returned to Boston in 1980, living for a while with her daughter. She took up carpentry and started to make furniture. However in 1983 she experienced weaknesses in her legs and was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). She died age 78.

Laurence Senelick’s The Changing Room, sex, drag and theatre has the following dedication: 

“This book is dedicated to Elke Mackenzie, whose transformation taught many who enjoyed transvestism on stage to appreciate transsexualism in life”.

Mackenzie’s original surname was assigned to two genera, Lambia and Lambiella, and several species.

The list of species includes:

Buellia lambii

Neuropogon lambii

Parmelia lambii

Placopsis lambii

Verrucaria mackenzie-lambii

The name was also assigned to Cape Lamb on Vega Island, close to the most northerly point in Antarctica.

-------------------------

Note: Cryptogams are algae, lichens, fungi, mosses, and ferns. They differ from trees and plants in not having flowers or seeds. Their reproductive apparatus is hidden.

Some comments on other accounts:

Turku, Finland is not Turkey. Mrs Lamb was Finnish.

Lamb/Mackenzie could not be “diagnosed” with “gender dysphoria’ before 1971, because Norman Fisk did not propose the term until 1973. She was probably told she was Transsexual.

Surely “Disfonia Syndrome” is a misprint.

While Lamb met and was influenced by Annie Lorrain Smith, she did not direct or supervise him, as she retired in 1932 (age 77) and Lamb did not start at the British Museum until 1935.

There is no Instituto Lilloa in Tucamán or anywhere else. There is there the Instituto Miguel Lillo, and its journal is named Lilloa, to which Lamb frequently contributed.

After transition Mackenzie continued publishing as I M Lamb (for consistency).   Where she is referenced on other lichenologists' work it is as I M Lamb.   WorldCat has changed her name to Elke Mackenzie in its catalogue, but not of course in the actual publications.   Any lichenologist reading up on her work needs to know both names.  

Many trans persons retain the same surname.   The decision to change it is in addition to transitioning.  To refer to her as Mackenzie is ironically to use one of her male first names.

___________________________

Publications by Lamb/Mackenzie:

  • “Lichenological notes from the British Museum herbarium.-I”. Journal of Botany74, 1936.
  • “Lichenological notes from the British Museum herbarium.-II”. Journal of Botany76, 1938.
  • “A new cephalodiate Lecidea from Japan”. Journal of Japanese Botany14,1938.
  • “Lichenological notes from the British Museum herbarium.--III “.Journal of Botany 77, 1939.
  • “What is Lecidea pringlei Tuckerman?”. The Bryologist, 42, 1939.
  • “A review of the genus Neuropogon (Nees & Flot.) Nyl., with special reference to the antarctic species”. Journal of the Linnaean Society of London, Botany52, 1939.
  • “Lichens from east Greenland collected by the Wager Expedition, 1935-36”. Nyt Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne 1940.
  • “The lichen genus Placopsis in Tristan da Cunha. Results of the Norwegian Scientific Expedition to Tristan da Cunha, 1937-1938”, 3, 1940. Norske videnskaps-akademi, Oslo.
  • “Lichenological notes from the British Museum herbarium.-IV. Rhizocarpon sect. Catocarpon in the British Isles”. Journal of Botany 78, 1940.
  • “Lichenological notes from the British Museum herbarium.--V”. Journal of Botany 79, 1941.
  • “A lichenological excursion to the west of Scotland”. Transactions of the Botanical Society, Edinburgh33, 1942.
  • “A monograph of the lichen genus Placopsis”. Lilloa13:1947.
  • “Further data on the genus Neuropogon”. Lilloa 14, 1948.
  • "New, Rare or Interesting Lichens from the Southern Hemisphere". Lilloa 14,1948.
  • “Antarctic pyrenocarp lichens”. Discovery Reports25, 1948.
  • “La importanciade los liquenes como indicadores fitogeographicos en el hemisferio austral”. Lilloa 20, 1949.
  • “On the morphology, phylogeny, and taxonomy of the lichen genus Stereocaulon”.Canadian Journal of Botany, 29, 1951.
  • “Biochemistry in the taxonomy of lichens”. Nature, 168, 1951.
  • “New, rare or interesting lichens from the southern hemisphere. II.” Lilloa, 26, 1953.
  • “Lichens of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia” Annual Report of the National Museum of Canada, Bulletin, 132, 1954.
  • “Studiesin frutescent Lecideaceae (lichenized discomycetes)”. Rhodora, 56, 1954.
  • “New lichens from northern Patagonia, with notes on some related species”. Farlowia, 4, 1955.
  • “Codex Lichenum”. Taxon, 5, 1956.
  • “Compsocladium, a new genus of lichenized ascomycetes”. Lloydia 19, 1956.
  • “Symbiosis: Part II. The remarkable lichens”. Natural History,47, 1958.
  • “La vegetaci6n liquénica de los Parques Nacionales Patag6nicos”. Anales de Parques Nacionales, 7, 1959.
  • “Lichens”. Scientific American,201(4), 1959
  • “Two new species of Stereocaulon occurring in Scandinavia”. Botaniska Notiser 114, 1961.
  • with Alexander Zahlbruckner. Index nominum lichenum inter annos 1932 et 1960 divulgatorum. Ronald Press Co, 1963.
  • "Antarctic Lichens. I. The Genera Usnea, Ramalina, Himantormia, Alectoria, Cornicularia". British Antarctic Survey Scientific Reports,38, 1964.
  • “The Stereocaulon massartianum assemblage in East Asia”. Journal of Japanese Botany,40, 1965.
  • “Die Gattung Stereocaulon, Lichenes, Stereocaulaceae. (Flechten des Himalaya 3)”. Khumba Himal: Ergebnisse des Forschungsunternehmens Nepal Himalaya 1,
  • Chemotaxonomy in the lichens. International Lichenological Newsletter 1(3), 1967.
  • with A. Henssen. “The Genera Buellia and Rinodina”. Antarctic lichens, 2.; Scientific reports (British Antarctic Survey),61, 1968.
  • “The species of Stereocaulon with protosacculate cephalodia”. Journal of Japanese Botany,43, 1968.
  • Antarctic terrestrial plants and their ecology, pp. 733-751. In M. W. Holdgate (ed.), Antarctic Ecology, 1970.
  • “Stereocaulon arenarium (Sav.) a hitherto overlooked boreal-arctic lichen”. Occasional Papers of the Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany2, 1972.
  • With W. A. Weber, H. M. Jahns& S. Huneck. “Calathaspis, a new genus of the lichen family Cladoniaceae”. Occasional Papers of the Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany4: 1972.
  • Stereocaulon Sterile (Sav) and Stereocaulon Groenlandicum (Dahl) Two More Hitherto Overlooked Lichen Species.Harvard, 1973.
  • “Further observations on Verrucaria serpuloides the only known permanently submerged marine lichen”. Occasional Papers of the Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany6, 1973.
  • “The lichen genus Argopsis”. Fr. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory, 38, 1974.
  • With A. Ward. “A preliminary conspectus of the species attributed to the imperfect lichen genus Leprocaulon”. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory, 38, 1974.
  • With S Huneck. “I'-Chloropannarin, a new depsidone from Argopsis friesiana: notes on the structure of pannarinand on the chemistry of the lichen genus Argopsis”. Phytochemistry, 14, 1975.
  • With D J Galloway & G C Bratt. “Two new species of Stereocaulon from New Zealand and Tasmania”. . Lichenologist, 8, 1976.
  • “Structurally unusual types of cephalodia in the lichen genus Stereocaulon (subgen. Holostelidium)”. Journal of Japanese Botany51, 1976.
  • “A conspectus of the lichen genus Stereocaulon (Schreb.) Hoffm”. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory, 43, 1977.
  • “Keys to the species of the lichen genus Stereocaulon (Schreb.) Hoffin”. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory44, 1978.
  • edited by S. Haddelsey & R. Lewis-Smith, The Secret South: A Tale of Operation Tabarin, 1943–46. Greenhill Books, 2018.

By Others:

  • David James. That Frozen Land.The Falcon Press, 1949.
  • Andrew Taylor, . “Dr. Ivan Mackenzie Lamb.” Polar Record26, 159, 1990: 343.
  • Geirge A Llano. “I. Mackenzie Lamb, D.Sc. (Elke Mackenzie) (1911-1990)”. The Bryologist,94, 1991.
  • Vernon Ahmadjian. “Obituary: Ivan Mackenzie Lamb (Elke Mackenzie) (1911-1990)” Lichenologist, 23,1,1991.
  • “Lamb, Ivan Mackenzie (1911-1990)”. JSTOR Global Plants. Online.
  • Geoffrey C Ainsworth edited by John Webster & David Moore. "Lamb (ivan Mackenzie (Elke Mackenzie Lamb)" Brief Biographies of British Mycologists.  British Mycological Society, 1996. Online.
  • Laurence Senelick. “Dedication”. The Changing Room: sex drag and theatre. Routledge, 2000.
  • Andrew Taylor edited by Daniel Heidt & Whitney Lackenbauer. Two Years Below the Horn: Operation Tabarin, Field Science and Antarctic Sovereignty, 1944-1946.Universiy of Manitoba Press, 2017.
  • Sabrina Imbler. “The Unsung Heroine of Lichenology”. JSTOR Daily,Sepember 26, 2020. Online.
  • Isabel Douglas. “LGBT History Month: Elke Mackenzie”. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, February 1, 2021. Online.

Wikipedia(Elke Mackenzie)

Wikipedia(Operation Tabarin)

13 November 2021

Torai Masae (1963 - ) activist

Torai Masea was raised in Tokyo.  He completed transition to male with surgery in the United States in 1987 and 1989. 


In 1987 he had appeared as a trans man on television and in magazines, which resulted in hundreds of letters, and replying became too much work. On his trip to the US in 1989 he found Louis Sullivan’s FTM Newsletter. In 1994 he founded FTM Nippon and with it a newsletter. He quit his job in that the job and running FTM Nippon were too much. However it took most of his savings, at a time when he had not paid off his surgery debt. He was also looking after his sick parents. Other trans men sent in material, and it was published in the newsletter and he then created FTM Nippon Press to publish books by them pseudonymously. 

He translated books by Jamison Green and published them with permission. 

In May 2001 he led a group of transsexuals who filed lawsuits in four family courts to have their family register details changed, with success in 2004. 

He is the author of several books on transsexuality.

  • Torai Masae.「男から女になったワタシ」 [I Who Have Become a Man from a Woman]. Seikyu-sha, 1996.
  • Andrew Matzner.“FTM in Japan: Interview with Masae Torai”. TG Tapestry. 91, Fall 2000. Online.
  • Hiroshi Matsubara. “Sex change no cure for torment: Surgery an option but transsexuals still face legal walls”. The Japan Times,Jun 20, 2001. Online.
  • Torai Masae “Japan: A Sexually Unique Country”. In Tracie O’Keefe& Katrina Fox (eds). Finding the Real Me: True Tales of Sex & Gender Diversity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003:68-75.
  • Torai Masae.「男の戸籍をください」 [Register Me as a Man]. Mainichishinbunsha, 2003.
  • Mark McLelland. Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Ag Rowman & Littlefield 2005: 207.
  • Mark McLelland. “From the stage to the clinic: changing transgender identities in post-war Japan”. Japan Forum,16,1, 2004: 16.