Gwendolyn Smith | |
|---|---|
 Smith in 2017 | |
| Born | June 22, 1967 |
| Occupation(s) | Activist Writer |
| Known for | Transgender rights movement |
| Website | http://gwensmith.com/ |
Gwendolyn Smith (born 22 July 1967) is an American transgender woman from the San Francisco Bay Area [1] who co-founded Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize people who have been killed as a result of transphobia. Trans/Active: A Biography of Gwendolyn Ann Smith is a biography about Smith published in July 2017. [2] [3]
Born July 22, 1967, Smith is a transgender activist, writer, and graphic designer. [4] From 1993 to 1998, she ran the Transgender Community Forum on AOL, which was one of the first public online forums for transgender people. [5] Since 2000, she has been a columnist for the Bay Area Reporter. Her column is called "Transmissions." [6] Her essay, "We're all Someone's Freak," is in the Norton Reader 14th edition. [7] She also manages the website Genderfork. [5] [6]
Smith founded a website called Remembering Our Dead, which memorializes people (going back to 1970) who have died as a direct result of hatred and prejudice based on gender. [4] [8] Today the list is hosted on the Transgender Day of Remembrance website, which now (going back to 2007) publishes information about people who have been murdered due to anti-transgender violence. [5] [8] In 2012, Gwendolyn Smith wrote an article for Huffington Post titled, "Transgender Day of Remembrance: Why We Remember". [9] In addition, she is published in Kate Bornstein's book, Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation. [10]
Smith began Transgender Day of Remembrance in November 1999 to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered in 1998. [5] [11] It now happens every year on November 20, and is observed all over the United States, in over 200 cities, and in different countries. [12] [13] [14] [15] The week leading up to the Day of Remembrance has become Transgender Awareness Week. [16]
Shemale is a term most commonly used in the pornography industry to describe trans women or other people with male genitalia and female secondary sex characteristics acquired via hormones or surgery. Many people in the transgender community consider the term offensive and degrading. Using the term shemale for a trans woman may imply that she is working in the sex trade.
LGBTQ slang, LGBTQ speak, queer slang, or gay slang is a set of English slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBTQ+ people. It has been used in various languages since the early 20th century as a means by which members of the LGBTQ+ community identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to others.
Katherine Vandam Bornstein is an American author, playwright, performance artist, actor, and gender theorist. In 1986, Bornstein started identifying as gender non-conforming and has stated "I don't call myself a woman, and I know I'm not a man" after having been assigned male at birth and receiving sex reassignment surgery. Bornstein now identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns they/them and she/her. Bornstein has also written about having anorexia, being a survivor of PTSD, and being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Transfeminism, or trans feminism, is a branch of feminism focused on transgender women and informed by transgender studies. Transfeminism focuses on the effects of transmisogyny and patriarchy on trans women. It is related to the broader field of queer theory. The term was popularized by Emi Koyama in The Transfeminist Manifesto.
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) is a nonprofit social equality organization founded in 2003 by transgender activist Mara Keisling in Washington, D.C. The organization works primarily in the areas of policy advocacy and media activism with the aim of advancing the equality of transgender people in the United States. Among other transgender-related issue areas, NCTE focuses on discrimination in employment, access to public accommodations, fair housing, identity documents, hate crimes and violence, criminal justice reform, federal research surveys and the Census, and health care access.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), also known as the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, has been observed annually from its inception on November 20 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. The day was founded to draw attention to the continued violence directed toward transgender people.
Diane Anderson-Minshall is an American journalist and author best known for writing about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender subjects. She is the first female CEO of Pride Media. She is also the editorial director of The Advocate and Chill magazines, the editor-in-chief of HIV Plus magazine, while still contributing editor to OutTraveler. Diane co-authored the 2014 memoir Queerly Beloved about her relationship with her husband Jacob Anderson-Minshall throughout his gender transition.
A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.
A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance to help them align their body with their identified sex or gender.
The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health care. A major goal of transgender activism is to allow changes to identification documents to conform with a person's current gender identity without the need for gender-affirming surgery or any medical requirements, which is known as gender self-identification. It is part of the broader LGBT rights movements.
Rita Hester was a transgender African American woman who was murdered in Allston (Boston), Massachusetts, on November 28, 1998.
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.
Tranny is an offensive and derogatory slur for a transgender individual, often specifically a transgender woman.
Transgender Awareness Week, observed November 13 to November 19, is a one-week celebration leading up to the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), which memorializes victims of transphobic violence. TDoR occurs annually on November 20, when transgender advocates raise awareness of the transgender community through education and advocacy activities.
Aidan Key is a speaker, author, and educator whose gender-related career spans over 25 years. His work has placed him in front of myriad audiences, including kindergartners, graduate students, teachers, superintendents, judges, physicians, psychiatrists, and clergy. Key is an expert on transgender and nonbinary children and adults and has been featured on national and international television, radio, and the internet, and in print media. As the founder and lead trainer of Gender Diversity, Key provides guidance and training to schools and school districts, as well as workplace trainings for organizations desiring to incorporate gender inclusivity.
Raquel Willis is an African American writer, editor, and transgender rights activist. She is a former national organizer for the Transgender Law Center and the former executive editor of Out magazine. In 2020, Willis won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Magazine Article. Her memoir, The Risk It Takes To Bloom, was published in November 2023.
The following is a timeline of transgender history. Transgender history dates back to the first recorded instances of transgender individuals in ancient civilizations. However, the word transgenderism did not exist until 1965 when coined by psychiatrist John F. Oliven of Columbia University in his 1965 reference work Sexual Hygiene and Pathology; the timeline includes events and personalities that may be viewed as transgender in the broadest sense, including third gender and other gender-variant behavior, including ancient or modern precursors from the historical record.
Transgender literature is a collective term used to designate the literary production that addresses, has been written by or portrays people of diverse gender identity.
Nancy Nangeroni is an American diversity educator and transgender community activist. She is a founder of GenderTalk Radio, the award-winning talk show about gender and transgender issues that was broadcast from 1995 to 2006 on WMBR in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Nangeroni served as an executive director of the International Foundation for Gender Education and Chair of the Steering Committee of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.
Chanelle Pickett was a Black transgender woman whose death helped inspire the creation of the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
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