FTM International is the oldest organization for trans men in the United States. [1] Founded by Lou Sullivan in 1986, it is dedicated to the provision of resources for FTM individuals along with creating a visible community. [1] [2]
The organization that would come to be known as FTM International was founded by Lou Sullivan in San Francisco during December 1986. [2] Unlike many similar organizations for MTF individuals, Sullivan's initial San Francisco chapter attracted sexually diverse individuals and avoided division based on sexual orientation. [3]
Starting in September 1987, FTM International began to publish the monthly "FTM Newsletter," providing resources for their members. [4] Early meetings included several well-known trans men, including activist Jamison Green, photographer Loren Cameron, and Stephan Thorne, one of the highest ranking out transgender law enforcement officers in the United States. [5] [6] Sullivan handed over control of the organization to Green prior to his 1991 death, who incorporated the group as a nonprofit and added "International" to its name to reflect the newsletter's international reach. [1] [7] By 1999, the organization grew to have at least 1,500 members across 17 countries. [8]
From August 18–20, 1995, FTM International hosted the first international all-FTM gender conference to be held in North America. [9] The goal of this conference was to build community of FTM individuals and to shift the general public's perceptions of what it is to be transgender as, at the time, the general public's view of transgender individuals was typically that of MTF individuals. This conference hosted over 360 FTM individuals from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, and Japan. [10]
FTM International also holds in-person meetings at their chapters based around the world, including chapters in the United States, China, France, India, Mexico, and South Africa. [4] Along with providing general education about and for FTM individuals, FTM International offers gender resources for FTM individuals (for example, information about clinics that provide support for gender dysphoria). [11] [12] FTM International's website features profiles of FTM doctors who specialize in gender-related medicine. [4]
FTM International also provides legal resources for its members, financially sponsoring the Transgender Law Center. [4] In partnering with FTM International, the Transgender Law Center sponsors the annual California Transgender Leadership Summit to provide FTM individuals with information on their legal rights.
The main goal of FTM International is to provide support for FTM individuals and their families and build a united FTM community. Their other main goals and activities include sponsoring local and regional chapters and communities, providing educational activities, and promoting of visibility of FTM individuals. [4]
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity and gender dysphoria, and creating standardized treatment for transgender and gender variant people. WPATH was founded in September 1979 by endocrinologist and sexologist Harry Benjamin, with the goal of creating an international community of professionals specializing in treating gender variance.
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men choose to undergo surgical or hormonal transition, or both, to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identity or alleviates gender dysphoria.
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International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) is an American non-profit transgender advocacy organization. The foundation is devoted to "overcoming the intolerance of transvestitism and transsexualism brought about by widespread ignorance."
Jamison "James" Green is a prominent transgender rights activist, author, and educator focused on policy work.
LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century and influential in achieving social progress for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people.
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Louis Graydon Sullivan was an American author and activist known for his work on behalf of trans men. He was perhaps the first transgender man to publicly identify as gay, and is largely responsible for the modern understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity as distinct, unrelated concepts.
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This article addresses the history of transgender people in the United States from prior to Western contact until the present. There are a few historical accounts of transgender people that have been present in the land now known as the United States at least since the early 1600s. Before Western contact, some Native American tribes had third gender people whose social roles varied from tribe to tribe. People dressing and living differently from the gender roles typical of their sex assigned at birth and contributing to various aspects of American history and culture have been documented from the 17th century to the present day. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in gender-affirming surgery as well as transgender activism have influenced transgender life and the popular perception of transgender people in the United States.
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A Transvestite pass was a doctor's note recognized by the governments of Imperial Germany and the Weimar Republic – under the support of sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld – identifying a person as a transvestite. Transvestite at this time referred to all individuals whose gender identity or preferred clothing was discordant to that associated with their assigned sex, and so included both crossdressing and transgender people. As gender-confirming surgery was only an emerging practice in the early 20th century, obtaining a Transvestitenschein, along with an official name change, represented the maximum extent to which many trans individuals could transition.
Transmedicalism is the idea that being transgender is primarily a medical issue related to the incongruence between an individual's assigned sex at birth and their gender identity, characterized by gender dysphoria. Transmedicalists believe individuals who identify as transgender without experiencing gender dysphoria or desiring to undergo a medical transition through methods such as hormone replacement therapy or sex reassignment surgery are not genuinely transgender. They may also exclude those who identify themselves as non-binary from the trans label.
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