Jack Bee Garland, Reporter
Jack Bee Garland was born Elvira Virginia Mugarieta in 1869, a descendant of a Louisana Supreme Court judge and the founder of the Mexican consulate in San Francisco. 'Babe Bean' became a newspaper columnist in Stockton then traveled to Manila and became a war reporter. Three years later Jack Garland arrived in San Francisco, where he lived as a man till his death in 1936 when he was discovered to be anatomically female.
William (Willa) Cather (1876-1947) lived as male from age fourteen through eighteen, documented in studio photographs that show him with a crewcut dressed in male attire. Letters from this period, including love letters to a woman, are written over William's signature. He continued to live as male in his early years at the University of Nebraska. He was loved by Edith Lewis for 40 years. His novels include O Pioneers! (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915) and My Antonia (1918).
William Cather, Novelist
John M. (Marguerite) Radclyffe Hall wrote the first novel about trans men, called "inverts," and referred to himself as an "invert." He was with his partner Una Troubridge over 30 years. The character in the novel The Well of Loneliness, Stephen Gordon, used a male name for himself and described his body in the book as trans. The book was banned, but subsequently became a classic.
John M. Radclyffe Hall, Trans Advocate
A book about John
Novelist John M. Radclyffe Hall
Dr. Alan L. Hart 1890-1962 was the first FTM case recorded in the medical literature. Dr. Joshua Gilbert published Alan's case in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders in 1920. Alan, born as Alberta Lucille Hart, described identifying as a boy from earliest memory. Dr. Gilbert wrote, "...from a sociological and psychological standpoint she is a man." He transitioned in 1917 after graduating from medical school in Portland, Oregon. He had his surgery in 1918 and changed his name. Soon after, he married and started a medical practice. His second marriage in 1925 lasted until the end of his life. Alan published five books, including four novels and a text on his medical specialty (radiology). He had successful medical practices in Tacoma, Washington and Hartford, Connecticut. He lived as male successfully for many years without hormones till late in his life when male hormones became available.
Dr. Michael Laurence Dillon 1915-1962 transitioned in 1949 three years before the famous Christine Jorgensen case in 1952. Michael was born as Laura Maud Dillon in 1915 to an aristocratic English family. Michael preferred masculine clothing and activities and when he reached adolescence he bound his chest with a belt. During college at Oxford he started to dress socially as a man and go to men-only events. After graduating from Oxford he began taking testosterone. He had chest surgery in 1942. In 1944, at age 29, he officially had his birth certificate changed to read Michael Laurence Dillon, male. He also contacted Sir Harold Gillies and had phalloplasty surgery. He became a medical doctor and enjoyed 15 years living as a man. In 1958 a reporter noticed a discrepancy between the family's listing in Burke's Peerage, which listed him as Laura Maude, and in Debrett's peerage, which listed him as Michael Laurence. Soon the story was in newspapers across the English-speaking world. Michael went to India and became a Buddhist monk, writing books under his ordained name, Lobzang Jivaka. He died at age 47 in 1962.
Dr. Ben Barres, MD is a noted researcher who has written numerous seminal papers and journal articles on the brain.
Attorney Mike Hernandez (born Michelle) has written a number of book chapters and stories.
Shannon has published articles and information on the rights of FTMs.
Louis Graydon Sullivan (born Sheila Jean Sullivan) founded FTM International in San Francisco. He advocated for FTMs of all orientations. Louis collected an important historical archive of material about FTM history as well as writing several pamphlets and a book about Jack Garland.
James Green, executive and long-time FTM International President, represents the FTM community world-wide. His wife Heidi Bruns Green is an FTM International Board Member. Lou Sullivan began the FTM Newsletter in 1986. In 1991 James transformed it into FTM International, the world's largest information and networking group for FTMs.
Leslie Feinberg was born Diane Leslie Feinberg in 1949 to a lower middle class Jewish family and grew up working in the factories of Buffalo, New York. Les' book Stone Butch Blues won a major national book award and has been translated into many languages and reissued in a second edition.
Leslie Feinberg 1973
Author Leslie Feinberg on the cover of Transgender Tapestry magazine
Les after speaking at TransUnity Los Angeles 2003 with GQR founder Alexander Yoo and FTM Berkeley honor student Alyn Libman (featured in People Magazine)
Jeff's book Abiding Hope
Jason's book Trans Men and FTMs with David, Billy and Mike
Aaron's book FTM with James Green
Rabbi Levi Alter is the author of books of poetry in Hebrew, Yiddish and English, short stories, journal articles, newspaper and magazine columns and a contributor, technical consultant and editor of numerous books.
Alonso Diaz Ramerez de Guzman, born Cataline de Erauso in 1592, was a conquistador in the early 1600's who had permission from the Pope to dress as a man, publicized in two autobiographies and a number of biographies. He was placed in a convent as a child and deserted the convent dressed in men's clothing made from his nun's habit as a teenager. He sailed from Spain to Latin America, enlisted in the army and served in Mexico, Panama, Peru and Chile and rose to the rank of ensign. He returned to Spain, where, known to be anatomically female, he continued to wear male attire and had a reputation as the "nun ensign". He died as a soldier in South America in 1645.
Alonso Diaz Ramerez de Guzman's book La Monja Alférez
Harry's book
Lyons Wakeman (born Sarah Rosetta Wakeman) worked as a coal handler on a river barge in New York then enlisted in the army. His tombstone reads Lyons Wakeman. His letters were edited into a book. (An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman 153rd Regiment, New York Volunteers, 1862-1864).
Dean's book The Palace
Morty's book From the Inside Out
Judith "Jack" Halberstam is an author and college professor.
Del's book The Drag King Book
Petric J. Smith, born Elizabeth H. Cobbs in 1941, was a Methodist minister who testified in 1977 at he trial of a KKK murderer, an uncle, becoming a target for the klan. He transitioned in 1981. He published a book naming dozens of people he suggested might have been involved, at great personal risk. He died in 1998.
There are many authors who are allies of the FTM community.
Joan's book Evolution's Rainbow
Becoming a Man | Our Gender | Our Transition | How We Transition without Hormones and Surgery | How We Transtition with Hormones and Surgery | How We Transition Legally | Our Lives During and After Transition | Our Families
Our Lives as Men | FTM Bodies | FTM Minds | FTM Spirits | FTM Family | FTM Community
Our Contributions | FTM HIStory | FTM Contributions to Art, Architecture and Photography | FTM Contributions to Literature and Journalism | FTM Contributions to Performing Arts, Music, Drama and Film | FTM Contributions to Medicine, Psychology and Science | FTM Contributions to Business, Government, the Military and Law | FTM Contributions to Education and Spirituality
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