8 Trans People You Didn’t Learn About in History Class

One of the most common misconceptions about the trans community is that trans people and gender-affirming care are recent phenomena. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Our next post for Trans Awareness Week is shining a light on 8 trans people you didn’t learn about in history class. 

Lou Sullivan (1951-1991)

Lou was a gay trans man, activist, author, and founding member of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. He was passionate about advocating for the medical community's acceptance of trans men who were also gay, at a time when gender and sexual orientation were thought to be connected.

Charlotte Charlaque (1892-1963)

Charlotte was a German-American actress and an early trans activist. She was one of the first people to undergo gender-affirming surgery at Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin. She is featured along with her girlfriend (and fellow trans woman), Toni Ebel, in the Netflix documentary “Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate.”

Zdeněk Koubek (1913-1986)

Zdeněk Koubek was a Czech track athlete who made headlines in 1935 when he announced he would be transitioning. While some of the media coverage was negative, a lot was surprisingly positive. His story is featured in the book, “The Other Olympians Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports” by Michael Waters.

Crystal Labeija (1930s-1990s)

Crystal was a proud Black trans woman, activist, drag performer, and pageant queen. Fed up with the discrimination and unfair treatment she experienced in white-organized drag balls, she co-founded the House of LaBeija in 1968. She is often credited with starting the house system in ball culture.

Dr. Alan L. Hart (1890-1962)

Dr. Hart was a transmasculine novelist and doctor who pioneered the use of x-rays to detect tuberculosis. This allowed for earlier detection of the disease and saved the lives of countless people with tuberculosis.

Dora Richter (1892-1966)

Dora was a German trans woman and one of the first people to undergo gender-affirming surgery at the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin. She worked there until it was raided and destroyed by the Nazis. It was thought that she was killed during the raid but in 2023 a researcher named Clara Hartmann found evidence that she lived until 1966.

Gerd Katter (1910-1995)

Gerd was a trans man born in Berlin. He first visited the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft with his mother at the age of 16 seeking top surgery. Unfortunately, they couldn’t afford surgery so he had to wait 2-3 years to access gender-affirming care. He went on to live a full life as his true self.

Trans people have always existed and always will.