Transgender History
overview
New York City has been home to a number of influential transgender activists who helped advance gay and trans equality, even as they had to fight for their own inclusion within the broader LGBT rights movement.
This curated collection features residences, the Christopher Street Pier, and community centers that honor the legacies of pioneering trans activists such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson and groups such as the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) and the Fabulous Independent Radicals for Community Empowerment (FIERCE).
The earliest known site dates to the turn of the 20th century while the most unexpected one may be the West Side Tennis Club in Queens, where tennis player Renée Richards earned a victory for transgender rights in 1977.
Historic Sites in Transgender History
This rowhouse near the Jefferson Market police court (now the Jefferson Market Library) was the last residence and office of well-known Tammany politico Murray Hall, who today would be considered... Learn More
Trans woman and Bronx native Christine Jorgensen lived in this house with her family from her birth in 1926 until the early 1950s. After her overseas gender reassignment surgery made... Learn More
The West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills began hosting a portion of the U.S. Open (originally known as the U.S. National Championships) in 1915 and was the sole location... Learn More
For over a century, the Greenwich Village waterfront along the Hudson River, including the Christopher Street Pier at West 10th and West Streets, has been a destination for the LGBT... Learn More
Formed in 1980, WOW (Women’s One World) Café Theatre is considered one of the premiere centers for lesbian, women’s, and transgender theater in New York. It has performed in this... Learn More
Since 1983, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Community Center has served as a vital support system for hundreds of thousands of people. The Center has witnessed the founding... Learn More
Transy House was a transgender collective operated by Rusty Mae Moore and Chelsea Goodwin from 1995 to 2008. It provided shelter for trans, gender variant, and non-binary people in need,... Learn More
Marsha P. Johnson was a Black trans activist and Stonewall veteran who became a key figure in the gay liberation movement after the Stonewall uprising, specifically fighting for trans rights... Learn More
Through the late 1940s, the use of hormone therapy and surgery as medical treatment options for trans individuals was not widely studied, available, or legal in the U.S. This approach... Learn More
Berlin-born Charlotte Charlaque underwent gender affirmation surgery in Germany between 1928 and 1931, in one of the earliest documented cases of the procedure in the world. Memorialized by the Brooklyn... Learn More
The Erickson Educational Foundation (EEF), a non-profit organization founded in 1964 by trans man and philanthropist Reed Erickson, had an office in Manhattan from 1967 to 1976. A significant part... Learn More
Three-time Grammy winner and platinum-recording artist Wendy Carlos lived in this Upper West Side rowhouse from 1969 to 1980. While here, Carlos composed the film scores for A Clockwork Orange... Learn More
The Mardi Gras Boutique was located on the second story of this building in the Meatpacking District from 1989 to 2000. Founded by Lee G. Brewster, an early trans activist... Learn More
Dr. Jeanne Hoff, reportedly the first American openly transgender psychiatrist to work with transgender patients, lived and practiced in this Chelsea rowhouse from 1977 to c. 1983. In 1978, Dr.... Learn More
On April 16, 1993, the International Action Center hosted a lecture and reading by transgender activist and writer Leslie Feinberg, whose ground-breaking novel Stone Butch Blues was newly published. This... Learn More
