To provide historical context for the transgender liberation movement & its relationship to feminism, Trasna will be reposting significant, interesting or insightful historical documents that relate to feminism & trans liberation. This is the first in what will hopefully be an ongoing series.
The following is a manifesto printed in the Detroit Gay Liberator in 1971 & accessed via the Digital Transgender Archive. As such, some language & attitudes may be confusing or out of date.
Transvestite And Transsexual Liberation
The oppression against transvestites and transsexuals of either sex arises from sexist values and this oppression is manifested by homosexuals and heterosexualsof both sexes, in the form of exploitation, ridicule, harassment, beatings, rapes, murders, use of us as shock troops, sacrificial victims, and others.
We reject all labels of "stereotype", "sick", or "maladjusted" from non-transvestite and non-transsexual sources and defy any attempt to repress our manifestation as transvestites and transsexuals.
Trans lib began in the summer of 1969 when "Queens" formed in New York and began militating for equal rights. The Transvestite - Transsexual Action Organization (TAO) formed in Los Angeles, the Cockettes in San Francisco, Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in New York, Fems Against Sexism, Transvestites and Transsexuals (TATS) also formed in New York, Radical Queens formed in Milwaukee - all in 1970. "Queens" became "Queens Liberation Front".
Transvestism-transsexualism-homosexuality are separate entities. Sexist values incorrectly classify any male who wears feminine attire as a homosexual, and to a lesser degree, any female who wears masculine attire as a homosexual.
Demands
- Abolition of all crossdressing laws and restrictions of adornment.
- An end to exploitation and discrimination within the Gay world.
- An end to exploitative practices of doctors and psychiatrists who work in the fields of transvestism and transsexualism. Hormone treatment and transsexual surgery should be provided free upon demand by the state.
- Transsexual assistance centers should be created in all cities of over one million inhabitants, under the direction of postoperative transsexuals.
- Transvestites and transsexuals should be granted full and equal rights on all levels of society and a full voice in the struggle for the liberation of all oppressed people.
- Transvestites who exist as members of the opposite anatomical gender should be able to obtain full identification as members of the opposite gender. Transsexuals should be able to obtain such identification commensurate to their new gender with no difficulty,and not be required to carry special identification as transsexuals. There should be no special licensing requirements of transvestites or transsexuals who work in the entertainment field.
- Immediate release of all persons in mental hospitals or prisons being held for transvestism or transsexualism.
WE SHARE IN THE OPPRESSION OF GAYS AND WE SHARE IN THE OPPRESSION OF WOMEN
Trans lib includes transvestites, transsexuals and hermaphrodites of any sexual manifestation and of all sexes - heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and asexual. It is becoming a separate movement as the great majority of transvestites are heterosexual and many transsexuals (postoperative) are also heterosexual, and because the oppression directed toward us is due to our transvestism and transsexualism and for no other reason. We unite around our oppression as all oppressed groups unite around their particular oppression. All power to trans liberation.
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