One of the first individuals to receive gender-affirming surgery in the United States, Simmons was also well-known in Charleston society for her marriage to John Paul Simmons. Theirs was reportedly the first documented interracial marriage in South Carolina.
American butch lesbian, transgender activist, author, and communist. Her notable works include “Stone Butch Blues” (1993) and “Transgender Warriors” (1996), which played a significant role in gender studies.
Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova, under the guise of a man, achieved distinction as a decorated soldier within the Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars. She was one of the earliest documented female officers in the Russian military.
Spanish-American military heroine
Transgender former Labour Party Parliamentary candidate, RAF veteran, Premier League Football photographer, self harm and suicide survivor
Army doctor
Marsha P. Johnson was one of the most prominent figures of the gay rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s in New York City. Always sporting a smile, Johnson was an important advocate for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, those effected by H.I.V. and AIDS, and gay and transgender rights.
Carmen Rupe was a trailblazing transgender woman and entertainer, a larger-than-life personality, sex worker, and celebrated LGBTIQ+ icon. Proprietor of several notorious Wellington nightspots and one-time mayoral candidate, she pushed the boundaries of Wellington nightlife and both entertained and outraged New Zealanders during the 1960s and 1970s. The most visible transgender New Zealander of her time, she used her celebrity to advocate for LGBTIQ+ rights. She was well-known for helping homeless people and others in need.
A veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising, Sylvia Rivera was a tireless advocate for those silenced and disregarded by larger movements. Throughout her life, she fought against the exclusion of transgender people, especially transgender people of color, from the larger movement for gay rights.
Albert D. J. Cashier was an Irish-born American immigrant who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born Jennie Irene Hodgers, Cashier took on the identity of a man even before enlisting on August 6, 1862, and maintained that identity until their death in 1915. Cashier became famous as one of the more than 250 women soldiers who served as men during the Civil War, but the consistent and long-term commitment to a male identity indicates a strong likelihood that Cashier was a trans man. Cashier’s uncle or stepfather reportedly dressed his charge in male clothing so that the teen could find work in an all-male shoe factory in Illinois, and Cashier had adopted their male identity in order to live independently. During the war, Cashier’s regiment was part of the Army of the Tennessee serving under Ulysses S. Grant and fought in approximately 40 battles, including the siege at Vicksburg. During this campaign, Cashier was captured while performing reconnaissance, but escaped and return to the regiment. Cashier managed to hide their birth gender even when hospitalised and fought with the regiment through the war until they were honorably discharged with all of the other soldiers on August 17, 1865. It was only at age 70, suffering from dementia and living in a veterans’ hspice, that Cashier’s biological sex was revealed and they were forced to wear women’s clothing once again. When they diedthe following year, Albert Cashier was buried in uniform with full military honors and their tombstone inscribed “Albert D. J. Cashier, Co. G, 95 Ill. Inf.”