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
In 1874, the Women’s Prison Association (WPA), responsible for many notable reform accomplishments for imprisoned women, opened the Isaac T. Hopper Home in this rowhouse, which is considered the world’s... 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
From the 1950s through the 1980s, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade was one of the city’s most popular and well-known gay male cruising areas. It became contested ground during the 1960s... 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
Located just across from the Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park has been at the center of the LGBT rights movement since the historic 1969 uprising. The park was included within the... Learn More
From June 28 to July 3, 1969, LGBT patrons of the Stonewall Inn and members of the local community took the unusual action of fighting back during a routine police... Learn More
After the Stonewall rebellion in June 1969, the first LGBT activist organization formed was the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), in July. GLF used Alternate U., a free counterculture school and... Learn More
Tony Pastor’s Downtown, in business from 1939 to 1967, had a mixed clientele of lesbians and tourists, and some gay men. It had shows of female impersonators (a term used... 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
From the 1930s to the 1970s, for LGBT and especially trans people, Bellevue Hospital was synonymous with medical experimentation and involuntary incarceration. In 1970, the Gay Liberation Front sponsored a... Learn More
Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village became known as a gay meeting place and cruising area from the late 19th century through the 1960s. Following the Stonewall uprising of 1969,... Learn More
Early trans activist and entrepreneur Lee G. Brewster lived in this building from 1972 to 1975, during which he helped push for transgender rights and acceptance post-Stonewall, directed the activist... 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 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
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
The Mardi Gras Boutique was located on the third floor of this building in the Meatpacking District from 1989 to 2000. Founded by Lee G. Brewster, an early trans activist... Learn More
A rare surviving Harlem building that hosted drag balls, the Imperial Lodge of Elks (also referred to as the Elks Lodge) was prominently featured in the documentary Paris Is Burning (1990), which... 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
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
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
The Metropolitan Community Church was founded to minister to the LGBT community whose members were not welcome in most churches. The New York congregation held its first service in 1972... 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
Ali Forney was a homeless gender non-conforming youth of color who, on December 5, 1997, was killed near the housing project on East 135th Street and Fifth Avenue in Harlem.... Learn More
After a multi-year campaign led by GLAAD, the Empire State Building commemorated LGBT Pride for the first time in 1990 by lighting its famed tower in lavender, a tradition it... Learn More
