Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, Howard Brown Health, Lakeview Presbyterian Church and The Village Chicago hosted an event, "Putting the 'T' First: Honoring the Role of the Transgender Community in the LGBT Rights Movement," Oct. 9 at Howard Brown Health and Gerber/Hart Library and Archives in Rogers Park. This was the first of a two-part program highlighting this issue.
Community activist Don Bell, who organized the event, said he saw a need for this programming for people both within and outside the LGBT community, since transgender people and their issues are so often overlooked by society.
Gerber/Hart Library and Archives Board President John D'Emilio spoke about the history of the library. D'Emilio, a historian who is also a professor emeritus at University of Illinois at Chicago, said that when the library was formed in 1981 it was hard to get LGBT books in other venues. The dual purpose of Gerber/Hart eventually became serving as both a place for LGBT-focused books and as an archive location for a variety of collections from individuals and organizations.
D'Emilio said that, beginning in the 1880s, LGBT people in the U.S. were called "inverts," further explaining that, in the 1920s and 1930s, transgender people were described as "drag queens," "butch" or "bull dykes." In the late '60s, "LGBT" started to be used. D'Emilio questioned what the terminology will be in the future.
In terms of documenting transgender history, D'Emilio highlighted some books in the libraryGay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A.; Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton; Arresting Dress: Cross-Dressing, Law and Fascination in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco and Transgender History.
D'Emilio spoke about several moments in Chicago transgender history, among them when, in the '30s, the Chicago Defender reported about what on they called "female impersonators" performing in South Side clubs, as well as the story of Jackie Ross, who got a job at a defense factory in Chicago during World War II and, when the community found out he was transgender, he was arrested and tried. D'Emilio said Ross proclaimed in court that he wished he was a boy.
Other examples centered around the Transvestite Information Service, a national newsletter, and the Transvestite Legal Committee. Both of these organizations began in the early '70s.
Following D'Emilio's presentation, Howard Brown Health Sexual and Reproductive Health Walk-in Services Manager Kate Palmer and Howard Brown Health Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Health Navigator Milo Vieland spoke about language and protocols that recognize and respect transgender people and their identities, and the history of transgender people and the medical community.
Palmer said Howard Brown Health has taken on an initiative around gender appropriative language because they recognized about three years ago that there was a need to address issues of misgendering patients at their facilities. She asked the audience if they knew what misgendering was; not many people raised their hands.
The main takeaway from the Howard Brown Health's focus groups preceding the initiative, said Palmer, was that people did not realize when they misgendered a person that it was causing harm. The organization subsequently created a "Trans 101" roll-out within all of their clinics. The class covered basic terminology, the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity as well as case studies and roll-playing exercises.
Vieland spoke about the history of transgender people's access to medical care. He used the late Christine Jorgensen's story as the example of the first famous person to undergo gender affirmation surgery and how her story was covered in the media.
At a time when there were very few doctors who did gender affirmation surgeries, one who did do them was German-American Dr. Harry Benjamin, who was Jorgensen's physician. Vieland spoke about the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which was originally named after Benjamin and how that organization defined those who are considered transgender.
The first hospital in the U.S. to have a gender-identity clinic was Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1956. Vieland explained that this number grew to over 30 by the mid-'60s, and further spoke about the different classifications the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual has used to categorize transgender people.
Q&A sessions took place after both D'Emilio's presentation and Palmer and Vieland's talks. D'Emilio said that, beginning Nov. 10, the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives will host an exhibit on the history of drag performance in Chicago.