On this date… 31 March
International Transgender Day of Visibility
Trans people exist. They have throughout history. The language we use to describe them has changed, and the word “transgender” or “trans” has only recently become popularized. But people not feeling like themselves in their own body and looking for something to make them feel true to their identity has a long, documented history. Often, since hormone replacement therapy and modern medical practices that allow for medical alterations, that was seen in the past as wearing clothes generally associated with the opposite sex, and was often usually illegal. On this International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) I want to highlight people who may or may not have been trans – again, there was little historical precedence for the term itself – but who definitely did not fit into the mold of their expected gender norms of the time.
The TDOV was originally created by transgender activist Rachel Crandall in 2009 as a way to celebrate trans pride and lifestyle, in contrast to the Transgender Day of Remembrance (November 20) which only memorialized those murdered due to transphobia. So, here’s to celebrating a few trans people throughout history.
Kalonymus ben Kalonymus (1286–circa 1328), a Jewish writer and translator who wrote the poem Even Boḥan which lamented his birth as a boy, referred to his penis as a “defect,” and wished to have been created a woman instead.
Christina Vasa (1626–1689), became Queen of Sweden in 1632, abdicated in 1654, and dressed in men’s clothing for much of her life, quite controversial for the time.
Albert Cashier (1843–1915) was born as Jennie Irende Hodgers in Clogherhead, Ireland and moved to New York in 1859, where he adopted the new name. Cashier enlisted in the Union Army in 1862. He fought in approximately 40 battles, and was even captured by a Confederate soldier before escaping. He lived the rest of his life as a man, receiving a military pension, voting, and being buried in uniform in Illinois.
Lili Elbe (1882–1931) began experimenting with dressing as a woman after her wife Gerda asked her to pose for a painting wearing women's clothing. She soon began dressing as a woman full-time, and even underwent several surgeries from 1930 to 1931, including vaginoplasty. She died of complications from a failed uterus transplant. In 2015, Eddie Redmayne starred as Lili in The Danish Girl, a film adaptation of her life.
Lucy Hicks Anderson (1886–1954) was one of earliest known Black trans women in the US. She was a socialite, chef, and philanthropist, known for running a boarding house in my hometown of Oxnard, California, during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. After dealing with legal issues in Oxnard, she and her husband moved to Los Angeles in the late 1940s.
![Lucy Hicks [Tobias Lawson] Anderson (1886-1954) •](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3a14926e-f5ee-44d6-835a-de76ee5b2c93_1442x1200.jpeg "Lucy Hicks [Tobias Lawson] Anderson (1886-1954) •")
Dr. Alan Hart (1890–1962) sought medical assistance as an adult to help him transition and live as a man full-time. He received a full hysterectomy around 1917, the first known trans man to receive the surgery in the US. Afterward, Hart married, published numerous short stories and novels, and pioneered the use of X-ray photography in tuberculosis detection. Once synthetic hormones became available after World War II, Hart began taking them, which allowed his voice to deepen and grow facial hair.
Dora Richter (1891–1933) was the first known trans woman to undergo gender confirmation surgery and the first to undergo vaginoplasty. Dora had attempted to remove her penis at age 6, after which her parents allowed her to live as a female. She was arrested several times for cross-dressing, which led her to being referred to Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld. He was a Jewish German doctor who founded Berlin's Institute for Sexual Research, which studied gender identities and biological sex. Nazi’s attacked the institute in 1933 and it is believed Dora died in the attack, though she may have survived and lived in Czechoslovakia until at least 1939.
Dr. Michael Dillon (1915–1962), was likely the first trans man to undergo phalloplasty, receive testosterone therapy, and have a double mastectomy. He published the book Self: A Study in Ethics and Endocrinology, a pioneer in the field of transgender medicine. As a surgeon, he performed an orchidectomy on Roberta Cowell, the first British trans woman to receive male-to-female sex reassignment surgery.
Coccinelle (1931–2006) was a French actor and showgirl. She received hormone replacement therapy, underwent gender confirmation surgery, and married, which led France changing its laws to allow trans people to marry and change their birth certificates after undergoing gender confirmation surgery. Coccinelle also founded a number of trans-related organizations.
Christine Jorgensen (1926–1989) was considered the first transgender celebrity in the United States. She was a WWII vet who transitioned after military service, receiving surgeries in Denmark beginning in 1952. She was outed in a New York Daily News article upon her return to the US, where she became instantly famous as an actress, singer, and recording artist. She used her celebrity platform to advocate for transgender people, and wrote an autobiography in 1967, Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography.
Amy Schneider (1979-), is a 40-game Jeopardy! winner, a streak only second-longest to Ken Jennings’ 74-game run. She is the most successful woman and most successful transgender contestant to ever compete on the show, both in length of games won during her streak and and in winnings (more than $1.5 million). She won the November 2022 Tournament of Champions and, as of this writing, is a semifinalist in the 2024 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament. I’m rooting for her; go Amy, go!