Our Foremothers

You come from somewhere

If you’re a trans woman, it’s easy to feel like you’re making this up as you go, alone. You’re not. Trans women have always existed, across cultures and centuries. Many cultures have long-standing, recognised roles for people we’d now call transfeminine, like the hijra of South Asia, fa’afafine in Samoa and sistergirls in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

And if you’re not trans, this is still your history. The rights that queer and trans women fought for, like being able to dress, love and live as yourself without arrest, protect all women.

Here are some of the women who lit the way.

Pioneers in the spotlight

Lili Elbe (Denmark) was a painter who, in 1930–31, became one of the first known women to have gender-affirming surgery, in Germany. She died after her final operation in 1931, but her story (later fictionalised in The Danish Girl) inspired many who came after.

Christine Jorgensen (US) was an ex-soldier from New York. In December 1952, newspapers splashed the news of her transition across their front pages. Instead of hiding, she became a glamorous nightclub performer and a poised, witty public speaker. For millions of people, she was the first trans woman they’d ever heard of, and many trans women wrote to her saying now I know I’m not the only one.

April Ashley (UK) grew up in Liverpool, transitioned in 1960 and became a successful fashion model, until a newspaper outed her in 1961. Her marriage was later annulled in a 1970 court case (Corbett v Corbett) that set back trans legal rights in Britain for decades. She kept living boldly anyway, and was made an MBE in 2012 for services to transgender equality.

Carlotta became a star of Les Girls, the famous cabaret that opened in Sydney’s Kings Cross in 1963. She became one of Australia’s best-known trans women and a much-loved entertainer.

Fighting back

Compton’s Cafeteria, San Francisco, 1966. Trans women and drag queens were constantly harassed and arrested by police just for how they dressed. One night in August, when police tried to drag out a trans woman at Compton’s, she threw her coffee in an officer’s face. The diner erupted. It’s one of the first recorded LGBTQ+ uprisings in US history, three years before Stonewall.

The Stonewall Inn, New York, 28 June 1969. Police raided a gay bar in Greenwich Village, and this time the crowd fought back. Days of protest followed, and the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement took off. (Pride marches are held each June to remember it.) Trans women of colour were among the people who stood up that night and in the movement that followed.

Two of them became legends:

• Marsha P. Johnson (1945–1992), a Black trans woman known for her flower crowns, generosity and big laugh. When people asked what the “P” stood for, she said “Pay it no mind.”
• Sylvia Rivera (1951–2002), a Latina trans woman and fierce, lifelong activist who never stopped demanding that the gay rights movement include trans people, homeless youth and people of colour.

In 1970, together they founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), giving shelter and support to homeless trans youth. They had very little money themselves.

Into the mainstream

• 1999: Georgina Beyer of Aotearoa New Zealand became the world’s first openly trans member of a national parliament, after earlier becoming the first openly trans mayor.
• 2014: actress Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black) appeared on the cover of Time magazine under the headline “The Transgender Tipping Point”. The same year, writer Janet Mock published her memoir Redefining Realness.
• 2018–2021: the TV series Pose, about New York’s ballroom scene, featured the largest cast of trans actors in series-regular roles ever seen on scripted television.
• 2024: Sarah McBride became the first openly trans person elected to the US Congress.

Carrying it forward

You don’t have to be an activist to honour these women. Living openly and joyfully, being kind to the girl who’s newer than you, learning the names: that’s all part of the story too.