Two-spirit People Of Indigenous North Americans

Many Native American indigenous cultures have traditionally held intersex, androgynous people, feminine males, and masculine females in high respect. The most common term to define such persons today is to refer to them as Two Spirit people, but in the past feminine males were sometimes referred to as “berdache” by early French explorers in North America, who adapted a Persian word “bardaj,” meaning a close intimate male friend. Because these androgynous males were commonly married to a masculine man, or had sex with men, and the masculine females had feminine women as wives, the term berdache had a clear homosexual connotation. Both the Spaniards in Latin America and the English colonists in North America condemned them as “sodomites.”

Rather than emphasizing the homosexual orientation of these persons, however, many Native American cultures focused on the spiritual gifts of such persons. American Indian traditionalists, even today, tend to see a person’s basic character as a reflection of their spirit. Since everything that exists is thought to come from the spirit world, androgynous or transgender persons are seen as doubly blessed, having both the spirit of a man and the spirit of a woman. Thus, they are honored for having two spirits, and are seen as more spiritually gifted than the typical masculine male or feminine female.

From this religious perspective, androgynous or transgendered persons are honored as sacred. Therefore, many Native American religions, rather than stigmatizing such persons, often looked to them as religious leaders and teachers. Because researchers are so dependent upon the written sources of early European explorers, it is difficult to say with certainty exactly how widespread were these traditions of respect. Quite similar religious traditions existed among the native peoples of Siberia and many other parts of Asia. Since the ancestors of Native Americans migrated from Siberia over 15,000 years ago, and since reports of highly respected Two Spirit androgynous persons have been reported among indigenous Americans from Alaska in the north to Chile in the south, androgyny seems to be quite ancient among humans.

Though some anthropologists have equated Two Spirit people with transsexuality, there was no tradition of Native Americans castrating Two Spirit males. Rather than attempting to change the physical body, Native Americans emphasized a person’s “spirit,” or character, as being most important. Instead of seeing Two Spirit persons as transsexuals who try to make themselves into “the opposite sex”, it is more accurate to understand them as unique individuals who take on a gender status that is different from both men and women. This alternative gender status offers a range of possibilities, from only-slightly effeminate males or masculine females, to androgynous or transgender persons, to those who completely cross-dress and act as the other gender. The emphasis of Native Americans is not to force every person into one box, but to allow for the reality of diversity in gender and sexual identities.

Because so many eastern North American cultures were so quickly overwhelmed by the European invasion, there is not much evidence of Two Spirit traditions in those societies. But the little evidence that does exist suggests that, especially before they converted to Christianity, these eastern Indians also respected Two Spirit people. Most of the evidence for respectful Two Spirit traditions is focused on the native peoples of the Plains, the Great Lakes, the Southwest, and California. With over a thousand vastly different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, it is important not to overgeneralize for the indigenous peoples of North America. Some documentary sources suggest that a minority of societies treated Two Spirit persons disrespectfully, by kidding them or discouraging children from taking on a Two Spirit role. However, many of the documents which report negative reactions are themselves suspect, and should be evaluated critically in light of the preponderance of evidence that suggests a respectful attitude. Some European commentators, from early frontier explorers to modern anthropologists, also were influenced by their own homophobic prejudices to distort Native attitudes.

Two Spirit people were respected by native societies not only due to religious attitudes, but also because of practical concerns. Because their gender roles involved a mixture of both masculine and feminine traits, Two Spirit persons could do both the work of men and of women. They were often considered to be hard workers and artistically gifted craftspersons, of great value to their extended families and community. Among some groups, such as the Navajo, a family was believed to be economically benefited by having a “nadleh” (literally translated as “one who is transformed”) androgynous person as a relative. Two Spirit persons assisted their siblings’ children and took care of elderly relatives, and often served as adoptive parents for homeless children.

A feminine male who preferred to do women’s work (gathering wild plants or farming domestic plants) was logically expected to marry a masculine male, who did men’s work (hunting and warfare). Because a family needed both plant foods and meat, a masculine female hunter, in turn, usually married a feminine female, to provide these complementary gender roles for economic survival. The gender-conforming spouse of Two Spirit people did not see themselves as “homosexual” or as anything other than “normal.”

In the twentieth century, as homophobic European Christian influences increased among many Native Americans, respect for same-sex love and for androgynous persons greatly declined. Two Spirit people were often forced, either by government officials, Christian missionaries or their own community, to conform to standard gender roles. Some, who could not conform, either went underground or committed suicide. With the imposition of Euroamerican marriage laws, the same-sex marriages of Two Spirit people and their spouses were no longer legally recognized. But with the revitalization of Native American “Red Power” cultural pride in the 1960s and 1970s, and the rise of gay and lesbian liberation movements at the same time, a new respect for androgyny started slowly reemerging among Indian people.

Because of this tradition of respect, in the 1990s many gay and lesbian Native American activists in the United States and Canada rejected the French word berdache in favor of the term “Two Spirit People” to describe themselves. Many non-Indians have incorporated knowledge of Native American Two Spirit traditions into their increasing acceptance of same-sex love, androgyny and transgender diversity. Native American same-sex marriages have been used as a model for legalizing same-sex marriages in the new millennium, and the spiritual gifts of androgynous persons have started to become more recognized.

by Walter L. Williams
Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies
University of Southern California

References:

Paula Gunn Allen. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986.
Sue-Ellen Jacobs, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang, editors. Two-Spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
Jonathan Katz. Gay American History. New York: Crowell, 1976.
Sabine Lang. Men as Women, Women as Men: Changing Gender in Native American Cultures. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998.
Will Roscoe, editor. Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988.
Will Roscoe. The Zuni Man-Woman. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991.
Will Roscoe, The Changed Ones
Walter L. Williams. The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986 and 1992.
Walter L. Williams and Toby Johnson. Two Spirits: A Story of Life with the Navajo. Lethe Press, 2006.

transgender.org – 2011

Transgender Identities in the Ancient Mediterranean

The interaction between religion and a society’s construction of gender has important ramifications for transgender communities within that culture. This relationship is especially compelling in the Ancient Mediterranean, in which a number of cultures with diverse spiritual and social environments thrived prior to the spread of Christianity. Within these cultures, religion provided a space for transgender individuals within a larger society that enforced strict regulations on gender binaries. This paper will focus specifically on the Greco-Roman Empire and the pre-Islamic cultures of the Middle East. Transgender communities within the Greco-Roman and pre-Islamic cultures demonstrate some of the commonalities found throughout the Mediterranean. Namely, the ability of these cultures to accommodate transgender identity within their religious institutions allows transgender people to occupy a mildly tolerated space within their culture.

Before examining these transgender communities in depth, however, it is important to explicitly define the terminology that will be used throughout this paper. Firstly, “transgender” is used differently throughout academic literature. For the purposes of this paper, the term “transgender” will be used liberally to identify any individual whose gender identity or gender expression does not entirely correspond to their assigned sex. This umbrella term includes crossdressing, androgyny, intersexuality, and transsexuality; where relevant, these terms will also be employed to indicate specific behaviors or identities. The regions discussed will be collectively referred to as the Ancient Mediterranean; however, the time frame and geographical space covered is quite large, and cannot be exhaustively discussed within the bounds of this paper. As such, the paper will focus on a selection of cultures which illustrate the most important aspects of Mediterranean transgenderism. “Greco-Roman culture” refers to the historical and mythological tradition beginning with early antiquity in Greece and ending with the fall of the Roman Empire and onset of the Dark Ages in the 5th and 6th centuries AD . “Pre-Islamic culture” refers to the pagan religions of the Middle East prior to the introduction of Islam in the 7th century AD, with specific consideration of traditions practiced by the peoples of Ancient Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq as well as those of Phrygia in modern-day Turk2ey.

Greek mythology has a long and complex history; little is known of early belief systems, and many inconsistencies and alternative variations exist of prominent Greek myths. However, it is clear that the divine had an extremely influential role on Greco-Roman society for many centuries. In general, the mythological traditions were closely related to the aspects of human existence which were most prevalent in everyday Greek life. For instance, many immortals were given responsibility over important crops, family, or the household. Mythology also played an important role in creation theory; it explained why the world existed, and why society was constructed as it was (Graves 4-17). Accordingly, gender had a very important role to play in Greek mythology. Ancient Greeks looked to the narratives surrounding their deities for guidance on how society should be structured, and what part men and women were to play within that society. Moreover, mythology also provided insight into how society should approach those individuals who somehow transgress the standard male-female gender binary. As is often the case in the study of mythology, messages regarding gender identity were very mixed.

In many ways, nonconformity to the gender binary within Greek mythology was often used to reinforce the importance of the strict delineation between men and women in society. This is seen in the myth of Hermaphroditus, son of the prominent gods Hermes and Aphrodite. At the age of 15, the naïve young boy went adventuring on his own. While in the forest, the nymph Salamacis tried to convince Hermaphroditus to be her lover; the young boy curtly denied her proposal, and continued on into the forest. As she watched, Hermaphroditus dove into a forest lake and began playing. Salamacis suddenly jumped into the pool as well, forcing herself upon the young Hermaphroditus; as she did so, she cried out: “Grant this, you gods, that no day comes to part me from him, or him from me.” In answer to her prayer, the Gods bound Salama-cis’s body to Hermaphroditus’s, creating one intersex being. Hermaphroditus was dismayed at his predicament, and so cursed the lake so that any man who entered the lake “may rise again supple, unsinew’d, and but half a man” (Ovid). The myth of Hermaphroditus is the source of the term “hermaphrodite,” and is unique in its portrayal of intersexuality in Greek mythology. The myth reveals the dominant perception in Greek society of those who do not fall easily into the category of either “man” or “woman”: intersexuality is portrayed as a curse, and those who are intersex are deemed “but half a man.” As a commentary on the social status of transgender people in Greece, the myth of Hermaphroditus shows the more derogatory perspective of those not conforming to the gender binary; those who do not contribute to the dominant social construct are viewed as undesirable and unwelcome.

However, the opposite message can be seen in the popular Greek character of Tiresias. Tireseas is a prevalent character throughout Greek mythology; the blind seer played the role of wise advisor in a number of plays, including Antigone, The Bacchae, The Odyssey, and Oedipus the King, and is an archetypal figure in world literature. However, a lesser known story is that told by Ovid in Metamorphoses, detailing the source of Tiresias’s wisdom. As a young man, Tiresias was walking when he encountered two snaked mating on the ground; without reason, Tiresias parted the two snakes, and was immediately transformed into a woman. At first Tiresias was unhappy with his fate; however, he ultimately lived the next seven years as a woman, until he was magically returned to a man after once again separating two snakes he found mating. Later, the gods Zeus and Hera were arguing over whether men or women enjoy sex more; because of Tiresias’s unique insights derived from his time as both a man and a woman, he was called upon to settle the question. Upon siding with Zeus, Hera struck Tiresias with blindness; Zeus, however, gifted the man with the gift of prophecy. (Ovid 3.316-338) Through his unusual and undermentioned experience as a transgender woman, Tiresias was seen as benefiting from an enhanced understanding of the world. As one author notes, “Though the tales that emphasize Tiresias’s prophetic insights in later years make no reference to these events of his youth, one could still play with the notion that some part of his wisdom derives from perspectives gained during the years he spent as a woman” (Downing 183). Tiresias was a valued contributor to society, and was relied upon regularly throughout Greek literature as a wise and insightful advisor. This interpretation of the value of transgender people in Greek mythology differs greatly from that of Hermaphroditus, and demonstrates the very mixed attitudes toward gender nonconformity in Greek antiquity.

Perhaps the most important transgender representation in everyday life for citizens in Greece was that of the gender-bending goddesses. While all goddesses, by virtue of their powerful positions in Greek society, defied the traditional feminine role, several goddesses did so explicitly and consequentially. Foremost of these are Athena, Artemis and Hecate (Allen 1). Athena, favorite amongst the goddesses of Greece, was the goddess of wisdom and military victory. Greek myths state that Athena had no birth mother, which in many ways explains why she was imbued with such masculine characteristics; her sole parent was the hypermasculine Zeus. She is generally depicted as a warrior, wearing helmet and armor and wielding a shield, and ranked higher even than most male gods in the hierarchy of Olympus. Similarly, Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, is patron of a patently masculine activity. Moreover, Artemis refused to be wed to a man, and often times punished men for expressing interest in her. The goddess Artemis is often depicted in gender-neutral clothing; while her robe is feminine, her belt is identifiably masculine, as is her weapon of choice: the bow and arrow. The goddess Hecate, known in Rome as Diana, acted as intermediary between the Underworld and the Earth. Hecate was feared amongst mortals and immortals alike for her great power, which she was not hesitant to use against those she disliked. While she was more feminine than Hecate in appearance, her personality was devoid of traditionally feminine attributes: she was considered cold and remorseless, even to her fellow immortals (Britannica). These female characters were important in debunking the strict gendered traditions of Greco-Roman culture; however, more important than the goddesses themselves were the mortal worshippers holding spiritual positions in their temples.

Transgenderism was not only a mythological or spiritual element in Greek society; many aspects of religious practice in the mortal world incorporated transgender individuals. This was especially prevalent in goddess worship, where biologically male followers of the goddesses would assume feminine roles in order to serve as priestesses in their temples. This phenomenon was a common occurrence, and has been cited to varying degrees in the worship of Artemis, Hecate, Diana, and others. For some, as in the case of Artemis, transgender worship simply constituted the adornment of male priests in the clothing of the goddess; this ritualistic crossdressing was done in order to communicate directly with the goddess, who would speak neither to biological females nor males in men’s clothing. However, for Hecate, transgender worship was taken much further. In many temples of Hecate, males would castrate themselves in order to serve as a priestess to the goddess. As patron goddess of witchcraft, castration was oftentimes done during the casting of spells and other magical rituals in honor of Hecate. These MTF priestesses, known as the Semnotatoi, were imbued with rights and privileges that neither men nor women were given in the temples of Hecate (Conner). They served a special function in the worship of the goddess, and as such occupied a safe space within the spiritual institutions of Greek society.

However, the safe spaces for transgender identities provided by Greek spirituality did not extend into secular society. As noted in Sexual Ambivalence: Androgyny and Hermaphroditism in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, “the possession of both sexes at once rendered all reproduction impossible and undermined all life as a couple and a family- and even all social organization since, at that time, the latter rested upon a strict division of roles and functions that was, in the last analysis, founded upon the sexual difference” (Brisson 7). Similarly, a castrated person could occupy the social role of neither man nor woman, husband nor wife, father nor mother; as such, they did not fit into the strict organization of Greek and Roman society, and threatened traditional understandings of interpersonal relationships. Many transgender followers of Hecate did not live in or serve the temple, and instead performed witchcraft for citizens of major Roman cities as their principal source of income; this practice was viewed as dark and blasphemous, and was not highly viewed within Greek society. Many of these practitioners had voluntarily undergone the ritual castration also practiced by Hecate’s MtF priestesses (Platine 2). These participants in the occult were often the victims of violent crimes, and at times were even subject to state-sponsored purges. The marginalization and discrimination against these individuals within the Roman Empire reflects the very limited acceptance for transgender identities in Greco-Roman culture. While religious figures with transgendered identities would be mildly tolerated in protected spiritual spaces, no such behavior would be endured within secular Roman communities.

The safe space for transgender identity within Greco-Roman spiritual institutions did not exist indefinitely. As the Roman Empire declined and the Dark Ages began to take effect, cults of the Olympian gods slowly dwindled of their own accord; religious practices in general waned, as communities tended not to identify themselves as strongly with Greco-Roman culture without the influence of a strong central Roman Empire. This process was exacerbated by the growing influence of Christianity; as the early figures of Christianity spread their value systems across the Western world, many temples were pillaged for what was construed as immoral behavior. Writings from early Christians were harshly critical of transgender behavior in order to distinguish the new religion from the polytheistic Greek practices, which included gender-bending rituals (Britannica). By the 4th and 5th centuries, transgender identity in the context of spiritual ritualism was no longer a reality in the European Mediterranean.

However, Greco-Roman culture was not the only society to adopt transgender practices as part of its social construct. In fact, the most detailed surviving accounts of ancient transgenderism in the Mediterranean are those of the pre-Islamic Middle East. Prior to the introduction of Judeo-Christian religions, the Middle East was home to a highly variable system of polytheistic spirituality. Similarly to the Greco-Roman model of transgender spirituality, much of the justification for transgender behavior was derived from their religious beliefs; however, this social space for transgender identity overflowed into secular society in the pre-Islamic Middle East far more extensively than in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. While transgender communities seem to have originated in the context of polytheistic religious cult practices, this limited acceptance for transgendered individuals eventually crept into mainstream society. These populations occupied a special role in pre-Islamic society; known as the mukhannathun, these male to female crossdressers and transexuals were relatively welcomed in secular society until the introduction of conservative Muslim values in the 7th and 8th centuries.

One of the earliest recorded communities of transgender individuals is that of the Gala, the third-gender priestesses serving the goddess Inanna of Babylonia during the 8th century BC. The goddess Inanna herself was a symbol of gender deviance, and was often portrayed as androgynous. She was simultaneously the hyperfeminine goddess of sexuality and a hypermasculine god of war. For this reason, the worship of Inanna often incorporated transgender elements (Harris 82). The temple practices of Inanna were highly complex; there were a number of different types of Gala, each of which served a different function in the rites of their goddess. One type of Gala priestess was the Kurgarru, a biological male who wore a robe that was feminine on one side and masculine on the other. The Kurgarru were highly esteemed in Babylonia; in one story of Inanna, the genderless Kurgarru were created in order to save Inanna from the Underworld. However, even more prestigious were the Assinnu, or the transsexual priestesses of Inanna. The Assinnu underwent ritual castration as part of a mes, or a divine calling of the goddess. The Assinnu were believed to have been imbued with great powers of protection and fortune. Warriors of Ancient Mesopotamia would touch the head of an Assinnu before battle, believing just this brief contact would spare them from danger. However, the most important role of the Assinnu was that of a hierodule, or sacred prostitute. The Assinnu were believed to be the physical incarnation of the goddess Inanna, and by sleeping with an Assinnu a follower of Inanna was essentially coupling with the Goddess herself (Platine 2). Not much is known of the Gala in ancient Babylonia; however, it is evident that the transgender priestesses of Inanna held a lofty position in the spiritual institutions of Mesopotamia.

The most well-known and well-documented instance of transgender identity within the spiritual practices of the pre-Islamic Middle East were those of the Phrygian goddess Cybele in the 6th-4th centuries BC. Cybele was central to Phrygian worship; as Mother Goddess, Cybele was given power over the Earth, mountains, and wild animals. Worship of Cybele was particularly unique, as religious practices often included ecstatic and orgiastic rituals. Her followers, called Corybantes, were infamous throughout the Mediterranean (Conner). In fact, the goddess Cybele was worshipped throughout the Mediterranean in various forms; in Greece she was known as “Meter,” and was worshipped similarly to the Phrygian Cybele. The goddess was followed by a group of transgender Corybantes known as Gallae, who were biological males who would adopt female attributes in order to worship the goddess. The exact nature of transgender behavior amongst the gallae is uncertain, and varied widely between different temples. While some cult followers would simply adopt the clothing, make-up, and mannerisms of a priestess, others would undergo ritual castration in order to become closer to the goddess. The Gallae performed a very specific role in both Phrygian and Greek society: they were the sole individuals capable of communicating with the goddess, and were essential to many ecstatic rituals in honor of Cybele (Lucker 18-27). This distinct role created a very mixed attitude toward the Gallae; while their unique position gave them a mystical and impressive place in society, they were also feared and ridiculed by those not associated with the cult of Cybele. This transgender community had important ramifications for the treatment of transgender individuals in the mainstream society of the pre-Islamic Middle East.

Outside the realm of pre-Islamic spirituality, a community known as the Mukhannath emerged, ultimately establishing itself as a component of secular society. This group was entirely unincorporated into the male/female gender dichotomy of the Middle Eastern social construct; instead, they were viewed as outsiders. While the Mukhannath were biologically male, they wore women’s clothing, make-up, and hairstyles, and used feminine mannerisms and speech. They were passive sexual partners for men, and often engaged in prostitution; in some instances the Mukhannath were eunuchs (Haggerty 173-175). However, this is not to say they were not important elements of pre-Islamic society. Mukhannath were highly reputed as singers and entertainers, and in the years prior to the introduction of Islam were seen as the pinnacle of artistic talent. They were further empowered by their outsider status; while they were free to mingle with women in ways that men could not, they were also free from the social limitations placed on women by the strict societal standards. The Mukhannath are unique within the Mediterranean cultures, as they are the rare community that managed to thrive outside the protected institution of religion and goddess worship. For a number of years the Mukhannath were tolerated, although controversial, members of society.

However, much like the transgender priestesses of ancient Greece, the pre-Islamic trans-gender communities of the Gala, Gallae, and Mukhannath were quelled by the influence of new religious values in their culture. The prophet Muhammad made his opinion of transgendered individuals in Islamic society blatantly clear in a 8th century hadith, or written record of his teachings, in which it was noted that “The Prophet cursed men who imitate women (al-mukhannathin min al-rijal) and women who imitate men.” A second hadith states that “There was a mukhannath who used to be admitted to the presence of the Prophet’s wives. He was considered one of those lacking interest in women. One day the Prophet entered when this mukhannath was with one of his wives… the Prophet said, ‘Oho! I think this one knows what goes on here! Do not admit him into your presence!’ So he was kept out.” (Ibn Hanbal) The introduction of these narratives to mainstream Middle Eastern culture resulted in heightened animosity towards the mukhannath, beginning with the lowered social status of the mukhannath, and culminating in banishment and execution for many transgendered individuals for moral indecency. The temples of Hecate and Cybele did not survive the arrival of Islam; polygamist religious practices were quickly expelled from the region, as were the special spaces for transgender identity infused into the pre-Islamic Mediterranean’s spiritual institutions.

The Ancient Mediterranean was home to a number of diverse cultures in the many years prior to the introduction of Judeo-Christian religion. However, as the sampling presented in this paper suggests, there are many commonalities in the way these cultures addressed transgenderism. In the realm of polytheistic spirituality, male to female transgender behavior was commonplace and marginally accepted. While at times scorned or marginalized, the semnotatoi of Hecate, the kurgarru and assinu of Inanna, and the gallae of Cybele occupied a rare and special space in the spiritual traditions of their people. Transgender identity was expressed differently between the numerous cults of the polytheistic Mediterranean; crossdressing, androgyny, and transsexuality were all present in numerous forms. By analyzing the spiritual deities and mythology of the Greco-Roman and pre-Islamic societies of this region, both the impetus for acceptance and the causes of marginalization are clear. The incorporation of the transgendered into the societies of the Ancient Mediterranean was contested by some, and accepted by others. However, this acceptance had its limits; the secular mukhannath were an uncommon example of mainstream transgenderism, and were highly controversial in pre-Islamic cultures. This dynamic and complex treatment of transgendered individuals in the Ancient Mediterranean was largely erased by the massive influence of Christianity and Islam in the region. However, records of these unique and innovative spaces for transgender identity within social structures based on a strict gender binary continue to provide a useful commentary on the role of the transgendered in a world that ostracizes the unfamiliar and criminalizes the unique.

Kyle McNeal 10 December 2009 SWMS 355 Williams

Works Cited

Allen, Mercedes. “Transgender History: Trans Expression in Ancient Times.” The Bilerico Project: Daily Experiments in LGBTQ. 12 February 2008. .Brisson, Luc. Sexual Ambivalence: Androgyny and Hermaphroditism in Graeco-Roman Antiq uity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
Conner, Randy. Blossom of Bone: Reclaiming the Connections Between Homoeroticism and the Sacred. Harpercollins: 1993.
Downing, Christina. “Same-Sex Love in the Age of Heroes.” Myths and Mysteries of Same-Sex Love. Continuum Publishing, 1991.
Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyopedia Britannica, Inc. Chicago, Illinois. .
Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. London: Penguin Books, 1992.
Haggerty, George. “Mukhannath.” Gay Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia. Volume 2. Taylor & Francis, 2000.
Harris, Rivkah. “Inanna-Ishtar as Paradox and a Coincidence of Opposites.” History of Religions
30.3 (1991): 261-278.Ibn Hanbal. Musnad. Cairo, 895. Lucker, K.A. “The Gallae: Transgender Priests of Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Near East.”
New College of Florida (2005): 1-27.
Ovid. Metamorphoses. London: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1998. Rowson, Everett. “The Effeminates of Early Medina.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 111.4 (1991): 671-693.
Platine, Cahtryn. “We Are an Old People, We Are a New People: Transsexual Priestesses, Sexuality and the Goddess.” gallae.com. 2007. .

transgender.org – 2011

The Gay, Lesbian, and Feminist Backlash

The modern era of the gay & lesbian rights movement is usually marked as starting on a hot July evening at the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village. The New York police, as many city police departments across the United States did, made period raids on sexual minority bars to harass and arrest the patrons. On this particular night, transgendered woman, Sylvia Rivera, resisted arrest, touching off a riot that continued for three nights running.

In the next year, three transgendered people, Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, and Angela Keyes Douglas would play pivotal roles in organizing the emergent Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance. The goal of the Gay Liberation Front was complete acceptance of sexual diversity and expression. But by 1971 the gay men’s community had returned to the assimilationist strategy as the lesbians, in 1973, turned to separatism and radical feminism. There seemed to be no room for transgendered people in either camp.

In 1971, the GAA wrote and introduced a bill to the New York City Council that was the first omnibus anti-discrimination bill to protect homosexual people. However, inspite of early and avid support of the GAA by transgendered people the bill completely ignored transgendered people. Silvia Rivera, disgusted by the batrayal, said to the leaders of the GAA, “It’s not us that they are afraid of — its you! Get rid of us. Sell us out. Make us expendable. Then you’re at the front lines. Don’t you understand that?” This marked the first serious batrayal, but certainly not the last.

Disillusioned by the GAA’s betrayal of transgendered people, Angela Douglas formed the Transsexual Activist Organization along the same lines as the GAA, with some of the loftier ideals of the GLF. She began publishing MoonShadow, a quirky newsletter for and about transgendered people and the struggle for legal rights.

In early 1970’s, Beth Elliott was active in a number of organizations including the Alice B. Toklas Gay Democratic Club, which she co-founded, the Board of Directors of the California Committee for Sexual Law Reform working to repeal California’s anti-sodomy laws, and the Daughters of Bilitus. The Daughters of Bilitus had been a pioneering lesbian organization during the 1950s and ‘60s, but was losing membership in the ‘70s as the lesbian community turned to more radical organizing. In ‘73 Ms. Elliott was asked to stand for election as the Vice-President of the San Francisco chapter of the Daughters of Bilitus. Late in her term of office her transgender status became a point of contention at the West Coast Lesbian Conference, where she was outed and vilified for being a MTF transsexual. The complaint was that Beth Elliott had insinuated herself into a position of power over women as a patriarchal man, a propagandist ploy that was to become common when attacking other transgendered people . At the conference she was forced to stop her music concert due to the catcalls from the audience by women that knew nothing more about her than that she was transsexual. She was required to sit through a popular vote of the attendees to determine whether they would let her finish her set. In the weeks and months to follow she was further vilified and even betrayed by women who had once called her friend. The treatment she received led her to become “stealth” for many years after.

In July of 1973, during a “Gay is Good” rally, Sylvia Rivera was followed on the stage by lesbian separatist Jean O’Leary. She denounced transgender people as men who, by “impersonating women”, were exploiting women for profit. It was the beginning of a series of such high profile transphobic attacts from the lesbian community.

In 1977, at the height of the Right Wing / Anita Bryant anti-gay rights backlash, the lesbian feminist separatist movement was busy attacking an even smaller community that only wanted to work within the lesbian community, lesbian identified transsexual women. Central to the conflict in ‘77 was transsexual recording engineer, Sandy Stone, working at Olivia Records.

Sandy Stone was a recording engineer for A&M Records before her transition. Olivia Records needed a recording engineer with skills and experience to help their fledgling all women’s recording studio. They found it in Sandy Stone. She recorded a number of their early albums, training other women on proper recording and mixing technique. When word got around that Olivia had a transsexual in the company, lesbian separatists threatened a boycott of Olivia products and concerts. Olivia Records was on the edge of profitability. A boycott would destroy them. Olivia supported Stone at first but eventually crumpled beneath the separatists demands, asking for Sandy’s resignation.

Angela Douglas became upset at the vitriolic, absurd, and transphobic comments broadcast on listener sponsored station KPFA in Berkeley, California and letters published in the feminist journal Sister. She wrote a very tongue-in-cheek satirical letter to the editor of Sister, the night before the 1977 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade.

The next day, at the Parade, a “gender bending” MTF individual handed out fliers that was written in protest of the Parade Committee’s policy of exclusion of “Drag Queens, Transvestites, and Transsexuals” . The policy was formulated in the hope of heading off the media which tended to focus on the flamboyant, instead of the very serious issues of Gay & Lesbian community pride and efforts to fight homophobia in society. However, transphobia had operated in the Parade Committee to equate transgendered people with “flamboyant” social unacceptability and political liability.

After the parade, Angela Douglas wrote a short essay with photos for the Berkeley Barb, in which she decried the efforts to exclude transgendered people. She asked if there shouldn’t be a counter parade by transgendered people, to be held on Halloween, a day that one is supposed to be flamboyant!

Two years later Janice Raymond in The Transsexual Empire, wrote of the events of 1977, casting Ms. Stone as an agent of the “Patriarchy” and “divisive”. The letter that Angela Douglas wrote as satire was quoted out of context, as an example of transsexual hatred of women, by Raymond. Her quoting out of context a letter written by Douglas was tantamount to intellectual dishonesty, with scholarly repercussions.

Janice Raymond was a professor at the University of Massachusetts. She is infamous for having written her doctoral thesis attacking transsexuality, denying its medical reality, and for viciously attacking individual transsexuals, notably Sandy Stone and Angela Keyes Douglas in her book, based on her dissertation. The book uses insensitive and transphobic language throughout, while vilifying feminine MTF transsexuals as tools of patriarchy for upholding stereotypes of women, and vilifying androgynous lesbian identified MTF transsexuals for being tools of patriarchy, fifth columnists infiltrating womens’ space and “raping womens’ bodies”, a typical ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ trap. She dismisses FTM transsexuals as deluded and misguided lesbians, afraid of the label “homosexual”. Her thesis rests entirely on arguments that sex/gender identity are fixed within the genitals at birth, an essentialist theory that excludes the possibility of transsexuals being a form of intersex, a topic which Raymond never addresses.

The book, while it did not create the transphobic attitude in the lesbian community, did tap into and ‘validated’, at least for the transphobes themselves, the discrimination they practiced. Thus, what began in the ‘70s, occasional attacks on individual transsexual women, became institutionalized discrimination against all transsexuals in the ‘80s.

The Transsexual Empire, was not the most damaging writing that Raymond penned. Far worse was a United States federal government commissioned study in the early 1980’s on the topic of federal aid for transsexual people seeking rehabilitation and health services. This paper, not well publicized, effectively eliminated federal and some states aid for indigent and imprisoned transsexuals. It had a further impact on private health insurance which followed the federal government’s lead in disallowing services to transsexual patients for any treatment remotely related to being transsexual, including breast cancer or genital cancer, as that was deemed to be a consequence of treatment for transsexuality.

Ms. Raymond is closely associated with another noted transphobic writer, Mary Daly, who described transsexuals as “Frankenstien’s Monsters” in her book GynEcology.

Transgender participation continued to be controversial in the Gay & Lesbian Community. Transsexuals taking leadership positions in the community were especially subject to attack.

Ms. Carol Katz was on the Christopher Street West Gay Pride Parade and Festival Committee, serving as Security Coordinator from ‘79 through ‘81. However her position on the board was a controversial one as many gays and especially lesbians objected to the presence of a transsexual. She recruited a number of transgendered people, both FTM and FTM to work as volunteer parade monitors and festival security each year . Her background in law enforcement facilitated greater cooperation between the Committee and local law enforcement organizations, LAPD and the LA County Sheriff’s Department.

In 1980 Ms. Katz was asked to serve as Security Co-ordinator for the “Women Take Back The Night March” in Hollywood. She agreed to help. However… lesbian feminist separatists threatened to boycott the march. Carol offered to step down in the interests of the larger community, with some private bitterness. The Committee accepted her resignation. But at the very last minute, due to overwhelming details in doing the job without her… and perhaps a realization that it was wrong to push her out of her participation… the committee asked her to take back the job the very day of the march. The controversy over Ms. Katz’es leadership role lead to the effective banning of broad transgender community participation in event planning and execution, though transgendered people did march that night .

It should be noted that the memory of the gay & lesbian community is short, as demonstrated by the efforts of the transgender community in Los Angeles to win inclusion in the Parade and Festival in 1995; Transman, Jacob Hale faced a Festival committee that believed transgendered people had never been participants before. The work of the transgendered community in ‘79-’81 had been completely forgotten, erased by the silence of the 1980’s.

In 1991 Nancy Burkholter was ejected from the Michigan Wymyns’ Music Festival at 1:00am by security staff suspicious that she was transsexual. She had done nothing to warrant eviction. She was forced to find transportation back to town to fly home, a holiday trip ruined by transphobia.

Unknown to the transsexuals who had been quietly attending the festival for years was an unpublished policy of the festival organizers that transsexuals were not welcome “on the land”. The policy was written out in the material for the next year that only “Wymyn Born Wymyn” may attend. The language was clearly designed to exclude transsexuals while avoiding debates regarding whether MTF transsexuals were “Wymyn”.

The next year, in 1992 TransActivist Anne Ogborn began organizing a protest to be held at the Festival, unable to go herself, she enlisted Davina Anne Gabrielle to attend. Davina and non-transsexual woman, Janis Hollingsworth handed-out buttons to women reading “I might be transsexual” at a table to enlist festival attendees in a dialog over the transsexual inclusion. Davina was ejected from “the land” in accordance with the written policy.

In 1993, the transgender community pitched CampTrans outside the main entrance. Jessica Xavier, Leslie Feinberg, among others attended to protest the Festivals’ “Wymyn Born Wymyn Only” policy. “Woman Born Transsexual” read a new button worn by CampTrans inmates. At the camp, workshops and concerts were presented as an alternative to the Festival. A number of women came out of the festival to participate in discussions. Notable was the participation of younger lesbians, especially members of The Lesbian Avengers. TransActivist volunteers stood outside the gate taking a poll of the festival attendees attitudes toward transsexual inclusion at the festival. The poll revealed division on the issue, but the majority of the women attending indicated that they would welcome transsexual women.

Participation in CampTrans energized the transgender community to become active once again, after the community’s silent withdrawal from the larger gay & lesbian community the previous decade.

National and local transgender activist worked for months to gain inclusion in the 1993 March On Washington. Transgender volunteers aiding in organizing the March, notably Jessica Xavier, worked with March organizers for months trying to gain inclusion in the name of the March. There was a ‘divide and conquer’ politicking by transphobic gays & lesbians that pitted bisexuals against transgenders. They told the bisexual community members who were also working toward official inclusion that it was either transgender or bisexual, but not both. To their credit the bisexual members did not buy into the ploy. However, the issue of inclusion was still couched in such terms by the foes of transgender inclusion. When the issue was put to a vote by the organizing committee the bisexuals won inclusion easily. The vote for inclusion of transgender was divided. There were actual cheers from the gay and lesbian community when the committee announced their decision to exclude transgender which deeply dismayed the transgender community volunteers.

A new pattern emerged in the mid 1990’s. The generation that had grown up since Stonewall welcomed transgender people without reservation, perhaps even with a tinge of adulation for their contribution to the struggle for Queer Rights. The older generation, those who had struggled just after stonewall, those who had read The Transsexual Empire when it was new, had not changed their minds significantly. Those that had been accepting during the 1970s remained so, those that had been sitting on the fence now came down on transgender inclusion. But those who had adamantly opposed trans-inclusion in the ‘70s still fought against it in the ‘90s. In 1994 The Transsexual Empire was reprinted and used as a textbook in feminist classes once again.

In 1994 CampTrans was pitched again with Riki Anne Wilchins taking a leading role. The turn out was smaller than expected. It was not due to a feeling of failure, but rather a feeling that the issue of transgender inclusion in “wymyn only space” was being by-passed by larger and more important issues.

Also occurring in 1994 was the Gay Games. When transgendered people wished to participate they discovered similar transphobic attitudes that the International Olympic Committee held . The Games organizers refused to allow transgendered people to participate except under very restrictive rules, namely that had to prove that they had had surgery or at least lived two years full time, with hormones, in their gender of identity. Bi-gendered individuals were completely excluded. This reliance on rules that on the surface seem to come direct from the HBIGDA Standards of Care, offended the transgendered community.

Transsexual Menace of New York organized to protest the restrictive and discriminatory rules. In street protests the group held up a banner that read, “Gay Games to transgendered: DROP DEAD!!” The uproar and embarrassment forced the organizers to drop the rules and allow unrestricted participation.

Some gay columnists were calling the events the “transgender Stonewall”, comparing 1994’s protests to ‘the gay riots of 1969’, totally ignoring the historic irony that Stonewall itself was started and fought by transgendered people. This lack of historic recognition sparked another protest in New York, demanding inclusion in planned events to mark 25 years since Stonewall.

In 1994 the issue of discrimination against sexual minorities became the biggest issue. The gay & lesbian community was working towards passing a bill in Congress, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA);. Transgender activists worked with the gay & lesbian community and the bill’s sponsors in Congress on inclusive language for the bill, only to discover that the language was removed before the bill was introduced. When the issue was researched by Phyllis Frye, she discovered that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) had objected to the language. Once again transphobia in the gay community had resurfaced as betrayal.

The betrayal of the HRC was echoed at the local level. In 1995, transactivists in Oregon worked with gay & lesbian activist with the Right To Privacy Political Action Committee (RTP) for a state version of ENDA. Once again language was changed at the last minute, behind the back of the transgender community. Later, RTP board members denied this fact when charged by transactivists. However, transsexual law student and legislative intern, JoAnna McNamara was in the meetings that were held with RTP and the bill’s sponcors. RTP representitives did not know that Ms. McNamara was transsexual, who later provided information to the local gay press regarding the betrayal.

The transgender community lobbied the HRC and other organizations to amend the language to include transgender and gender variant gay & lesbian protection. Each year saw organizations that had previously supported the bill, drop its support. Each year of the second half of the ‘90s saw organizations officially add transgender to their mission statement. Each year saw what started as inclusive lip service become real support.

In 1998. the Gay Games was held in the Nederlands. Ironically, while transsexual pop singing star Dana International performed at the opening festivities, the transgender community protested the re-instatement of the same restrictive rules that had excluded some transgendered people in New York four years earlier. However, European officials of the Games were unmoved.

In 1999, five years after the disagreement between the HRC and the transgender community over inclusion in ENDA surfaced the controversy continued, one of the bill’s Congressional sponsors, openly gay Representative, Barney Frank, played the “Bathroom Card”, saying that employers will not accept transgender people as employees since they won’t be able to convince their other employees to tolerate transgender people in the restrooms. This was quickly denounced by transgender activists as truly expressing transphobia, though Frank had earlier voiced his concern regarding violence and discrimination against transgender people in the wake of the death of Tyra Hunter, pointing out the irony as the “Shower Card” was used against the gay & lesbian community in its fight to gain the right to serve in the armed forces earlier in the decade .

In 1999, at the close of the 20th Century, the gay & lesbian community was still divided over transgender inclusion. Camp Trans was once again pitched in front of the gate of the Michigan Wimmins’ Music Festival. This time post operative male to female transsexuals were allowed ‘on the land’, but pre-operative MTF women and post-operative FTM men were not. The issue had now come down to possession of a penis. Although they were now allowed on the land, vocal transphobic lesbian separatists menaced transsexual women, while members of The Lesbian Avengers supported them.

At the end of the 20th Century, the Transgender Question in the gay and lesbian community was still unsettled, and unsettling for the majority.

transhistory.org/history/TH_Backlash.html – 2003