A Shooting Superstar | Holly Woodlawn (1946-2015): Not Just Cistory

We have told the stories of several trans women in the Not Just Cistory series that achieved the life they wanted for themselves by conforming to the gender expectations of women at the time and blending in with the women around them. There is nothing wrong with this, and is still something many trans folks (both men and women) do today. Holly Woodlawn, on the other hand, was not interested in blending in, in any sense of the word. 

Early Life

Holly Woodlawn was born in Juana Diaz Puerto Rico in 1946 on October 26, to a Puerto Rican mother, and a German-American father (Grimes, 2015). She described “the culture [as] more Caribbean. Everyone's naked, it's hotter, you come out earlier. I was having sex when I was seven and eight in the bushes with my uncles and cousins - of course, they were only 11 or 12 themselves. I was raised in a house full of women and my uncle was gay. We lived in a little tiny town, so those were my role models” (Paterson, 2007). Her time in Puerto Rico was an essential foundation to her identity and sense of self in terms of her gender.

Woodlawn didn’t live in Puerto Rico long. She left in 1955, when she was 9, with her mother. They moved to New York, where her mother met and remarried, to a Polish-Jewish immigrant named Joseph Ajzenberg, who adopted Woodlawn as his child (IMDb & Sieger, 2015). Her time in New York, and later Miami, Florida, were not particularly happy times for Woodlawn. She was uncomfortable in her middle-class suburban life, and felt as if she didn’t know who she was (Patterson, 2007). Suburban stability painfully constricted a young Holly Woodlawn.

Her teen years were a prologue to the rest of her life. She made a copy of her father’s car keys and would take his car to drive down to the gay beach and party (Russell, 2025). Her adolescent rebellion culminated in summer 1962, when she was supposed to be attending summer school to fix her failing grades (a result from spending too much time partying).  She instead took the trajectory of her life even more into her own hands, and joined up with a group of Cuban Queens and sold some jewelry and made her way north to New York City (Patterson, 2007), where she was sure the rest of her life was waiting to begin.

However, her travels came to a halt like a bus at the end of its line when she ran out of money in Atlanta Georgia. She ended up hitchhiking the rest of the way north (Patterson, 2007). Woodlawn was living through the part of her life she would be most well known for, (but not the most interesting, in my opinion) though she had no way of knowing at the time. Despite all her ambition, adventures, and accomplishments, Holly Woodlawn was most known, both during her life, and now after her death, as the ‘Holly’ in Lou Reed’s song ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ and as a Warhol Superstar. Her verse chronicles her traveling to New York City to begin her new life.

Once in New York she had to create a new life for herself from scratch, and it was not easy. She took on a myriad of jobs to make ends meet. During this time she was also “a street-urchin in New York, a speed freak, a thief, a housewife, a go-go dancer, a beauty queen who was crowned Miss Donut in Amsterdam, New York, a floor model at Saks Fifth Avenue, a rioter at Stonewall, an Off-Broadway star, and a celebrated cabaret performer” (Copeland, 2025, p. 89). This hard-scrabble life was a continuation of living outside of the ‘normal' (normal meaning white, suburban, middle class) world that Holly had been attracted to her entire life. However, she had her sights set even higher in the heavens.

Into the Orbit of the Famous

Woodlawn wanted to be a part of Andy Warhol’s orbit, one of his ‘Superstars’. I am aware of the irony of interrupting the story of a trans woman to tell the story of a cis man, but knowing who Warhol was, is important to understanding Holly and her goals, so we will briefly diverge.

Warhol was a first generation Polish-American, whose parents immigrated to the United States (The Warhol). He “graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Pictorial Design in 1949 and soon after moved to New York City to pursue a career as a commercial artist” (The Warhol). This was where he and Holly Woodlawn would meet. 

Warhol worked as commercial artists for the first part of his career, but he is most known for his transgressive attitudes towards art, and his contributions to the Pop Art movement (the Warhol). His other paintings were often a critique of consumer culture, the iconic Campbell’s Soup cans piece, among them (Dupêcher, 2019) He continued, throughout his career, to paint commissioned portraits of the famous and elite individuals he became more and more involved with (the Warhol). Even this man, who adored the wild, avante garde life Holly desired, had his ‘safety net’. Many of the women he surrounded himself with did not have and could not create the same for themselves. 

The other aspect of his creative endeavors was what Woodlawn was most drawn to, and entwined with; his films. He was a prolific film maker, and his “feature-length films that delved into New York’s underground subcultures and turned… [his] collection of artists and misfits into ‘superstars’” (Dupêcher, 2019), which was exactly who Holly wanted to be.

Her chutzpah was what initially attracted Warhol to her. During this time in the mid and late sixties, Woodlawn was acting in plays, and after one in 1969 when she was interviewed by a journalist, she proclaimed she was one of Warhol’s superstars (Grimes, 2015). Warhol heard about this and wanted to meet her. This sort of preemptive sort of connection is ironically similar to how Lou Reed wrote about her in “Walk on the Wild Side” (don’t worry, we’re almost to that part). 

One Man’s Trash…

The project that made her an actual Warhol Superstar was the Paul Morrissey-directed Warhol film Trash, which was filmed in Morrissey’s basement (Patterson, 2007).  Woodlawn, who was 23 by my math, was initially intended to just be in one or two scenes, but Morrissey loved her and her improvisations so much that she ended up filming for six days (Grimes, 2015). Holly is inextricably entwined with Trash. Much of her lines were self-created, and Woodlawn said that, along with the dialogue, even the clothing used as costuming was hers as well. She had been exactly where her character in the movie was (Grimes, 2015), and related to her intensely. For her efforts she was paid $25 per day, and she never received any money in residuals from Warhol (Copeland, 2025, p. 115). 

Holly had finally made it; not only was she starring in one of Warhol’s movies, she was improving upon it! There was even an attempt by director George Cukor to nominate Holly for an Academy Award for her role in Trash but she was not considered. There are a plethora reasons floating around as to why she wasn’t, from the film being non-union (and the Academy did not, apparently, consider non-union films at the time) ( Woodruff, via Copeland, 2025, p. 164) to those in charge of making the decision could not decide on whether to categorize her as an actress or actor (Patterson, 2007). This must have seemed like her big break!

Is Another Man’s Biggest Hit

In 1972 Holly Woodlawn received a call from her friend telling her to turn on the radio. Confused, she told her that she didn’t have a radio (American Masters Digital Archive (WNET), 1997). This was how Holly found out she was the subject of the first verse of a new song; Walk on the Wild Side. She didn’t know Lou Reed, beyond attending the concerts he performed in (Patterson, 2007), yet the there she was:

 Holly came from Miami, F-L-A

Hitch-hiked her way across the USA

Plucked her eyebrows along the way

Shaved her legs and then he was a she

She says, "Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side"

Said, "Hey honey, take a walk on the wild side" (Reed, 1972)

Each verse of the song describes a Warhol Superstar. The first is Holly, of course, then Candy, who is Candy Darling. ‘Joe’ references Joe Dallesandro, who was Woodlawn’s co-star in Trash  Similarly, the ‘sugar plum fairy’ mentioned was the name of a character played by Joe Campbel (who dated Harvey Milk, coincidentally), and ‘Jackie’ is Jackie Campbell (Hann, 2015). Each of these individuals were queer and/or trans.

The fact that all of the subjects of “Walk on the Wild Side” were Warhol Superstars may seem like an incredible coincidence. At least, until one learns that Warhol was the mastermind, so to speak, behind the song. Penny Arcade (another Warhol actor) said that, Women in Revolt, another of his movies starring Woodlawn, “inspired Warhol to inspire Reed in his turn to write “Walk on the Wild Side”.... Warhol suggested it to Lou Reed because of the movie we were all in, Women in Revolt” (Moyer, 2015). “Walk on the Wild Side” was initially released as a single, but became a part of Reed’s album Transformer (produced by David Bowie) ended up being the biggest hit of his career (Trebay, 2013), and in a way he had Woodlawn and her contemporaries to thank for that.

After Warhol and Reed

1972 is the moment where the quantity of information about Woodlawn’s life decreases precipitously. At best you might get a vague sentence about her moving to California and starting fashion school, but that’s about it. Depending on when the article was written it may close out with the information regarding her death. 

But, Holly was more than the men who featured her in their art. She lived an entire life outside of Warhol and Reed’s influence. She did indeed eventually move to California after Warhol’s death in 1987 (Patterson, 2007) but before that she “moved back home to live with her parents in Miami for several years before returning to New York and finding modest stage success as a club singer” (Villegas, 2021). She was determined to continue to carve out a life for herself in the way she found to be worth living, even if her time with Warhol had not granted her long-term fame.

After moving to Hollywood she continued to hustle just like she had on the east coast, refusing to give up. At this time she met Jeff Copeland, another struggling dreamer, who she became fast friends with. He ended up writing her biography with her, which was titled A Low Life in High Heels, and was published in 1991 (Villegas 2021). More recently Copeland has published Love you Madly, Holly Woodlawn: A Walk on the Wild Side with Andy Warhol’s Most Famous Superstar* which details his friendship with her in the 80s and 90s, including the time spent writing her memoir.

In 1989, at Copeland’s insistence, Woodlawn got a job at Wacko, “an eclectic collectible shop that sold battery-operated tin toys, Pee-wee Herman dolls, vintage Frankenstein models, thousands of fun postcards, and anything else that was kitschy, and retro-cool” (Copeland, 103). A fitting place to find an avant-garde superstar like Holly Woodlawn.

She also, during this time, decided to go to design school. In order to attend she had to get her GED (remember, she had dropped out of school at 15) and secure financial aid, but with those hurdles cleared, and the advance from her memoir, she was able to attend the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (Copeland,182). She excelled at design, and  enjoyed her studies (Copeland, 224). She considered creating a fashion line for transgender women after graduation (Copeland, 2025, p. 250). This was a wonderful creative outlet, and a chance to build something for herself.

These projects, along with the writing of her memoir helped keep Woodlawn’s life stable, for a time. Her literary agent sold the manuscript for A Low Life in High Heels  to St. Martin’s Press for $40,000 US (Copeland, 2025, p. 174), which is almost $102,000 US today (CP Inflation Calculator). This success, combined with the whirlwind promotional tour in the leadup to the book’s publication certainly suggested that the pendulum of Woodlawn’s career was on the upswing.

The success of the memoir added to Woodlawn’s momentum. She was invited to party after exclusive party, and everyone in Hollywood knew who Holly Woodlawn was (Copeland, 2025, pp. 237-45). This was the life that Holly had wanted for herself ever since she first claimed to be an Andy Warhol Superstar, and she loved every minute of it.

However, the momentum began to slow as time passed. Both authors of A Low Life in High Heels wanted the book to be adapted as a movie, but they struggled to get the book in front of the people who could make that happen (Copeland, 2025, p. 250-251). Perhaps looking for more change, “Holy got bored with ringing up knick-knacks at Wacko. She had published a memoir now and was celebrated in the press. Working as a cashier just seemed so menial…. So [she] quit Wacko and got a job as a phone sex operator" (Copeland, 2025, p. 251). However, she “lasted a few weeks before she was fired for drinking on the job,” (Copeland, 2025, p. 215). If this were a novel instead of a woman’s life, it would be called foreshadowing. 

Despite a lack of interest, hope for a movie deal continued, just as life did. In 1992, the trade paperback version of A Low Life in High Heels was released, and a friend of Holly's co-wrote a live television show for her to star in (Copeland, 2025, p. 259). Woodlawn also returned to doing cabaret performances across the US (Copeland, 2025, p. 259) continuing to find the spotlight wherever she could. 

Suddenly, there was movement and “Madonna was in cahoots with a big producer and a world-famous writer to make a movie based on Holly Woodlawn’s autobiography…. The deal was being set up at Columbia Pictures through Dolly Parton’s production company…” (Copleand, 2025, pp. 261-262). This was just the sort of second wind that Woodlawn had been hoping for. 

At this moment I must acknowledge that the bulk of the information being referenced during this portion of Holly’s life comes from Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn*, and while this book does contain a wealth of information about Holly’s life during the 1980s and early 90s, it is from Jeff Copeland’s point of view, because not only is he the author, but it’s about his experience working and being friends with Holly Woodlawn. 

At this point the two had a falling out over the screenplay rights. Jeff and Holly had agreed, at the outset of the writing of the  proposal for A Low Life in High Heels, that Copeland would be the one to write the screenplay (Copeland, 2025). However, now Woodlawn, and their agent, wanted Jeff to relinquish that claim to the ’famous writer’ chosen by Madonna and the ‘big producer’ so that the deal could go forward (Copeland, 2025). Holly Woodlawn was a person for whom fame was always the end goal, so it may have seemed like a reasonable sacrifice, in the service of her life long goals. 

Copeland did eventually relinquish the rights, and the deal with Columbia Pictures and Madonna went forward (Copeland, 2025, p. 266), reigniting the fire of fame surrounding Holly Woodlawn. “ [Madonna’s] name alone created a publicity firestorm for the book that went around the world” (Copeland, 2025, 271). Since she was once again famous, Holly decided not to pursue a job in fashion after she graduated with her degree. Her friends insisted that she was too famous to need a day job (Copeland, 2025, p. 272), and unfortunately, she listened.

Frustratingly, the movie deal fell through at the last second, “[t]here was a brouhaha amongst the producers that caused the entire deal to collapse” (Copeland, 2025, p. 273). This forced Woodlawn back onto the “cabaret circuit performing A Low Life in High Heels as a cabaret show in bars and clubs…” (Copeland, 2025, p. 275). She was back to what she had always done, hustling to get to where she wanted to be. 

Eventually the hustling by both Jeff and Holly paid off, and in 1995 the movie rights were optioned by Michael Zoumas. This time Copeland was in charge of writing the script, along with director Rose Troche, but Holly was largely left out of the creative process of writing the script, which infuriated her. Proving once again the fickleness of Hollywood, this iteration never made it to production either. This was a pattern that continued for more than a decade (Copeland, 2025, p. 276-278). Woodlawn never lost hope that A Low Life in High Heels would be made into a movie, and continued to work towards that dream for the rest of her life. 

Later Life

As Holly’s life continued on, her alcoholism worsened, and while she and Copeland were no longer close, he does give some insight into this part of her life. She lived, for a time “with a friend of hers in Beachwood Canyon… [in a house that was] so close to the Hollywood sign, it was almost in the backyard” (Copeland, 2025, p. 283). She had some stability, until, of course, the landlord sold the house and she was forced to move in with an acquaintance/romantic partner. After he was sent to jail for attacking Holly, she lived in that apartment for several years (Copeland, 2025, p.284). 

Woodlawn’s flame of fame never really rekindled, though she “ had occasional cameo roles in films like “Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss” in 1998 and, in 2014, the Amazon television series “Transparent” (Grimes, 2015). She was always ready for new opportunities and adventure, even if they were becoming fewer and farther between.

Woodlawn’s health began to decline when she tripped and fell, damaging several nerves, and losing some of her ability to walk. She got sober at her doctor’s orders, but her health continued to worsen (Copeland, 2025, p. 284). The effects of a lifetime of drinking and drugs had too much inertia to be stopped now. 

In a 2007 interview John Patterson describes Holly’s as “bent and frail, though indefatigably cheerful, using a Zimmer frame because of various slowly fusing discs in his spine that, he says, are unimaginably painful and incurable. ‘Oh no, this is IT, honey, downhill all the way from here on!’” (Patterson, 2007). (A note: Patterson uses he/him for Holly here, evidently because Holly was presenting masculinely that day.) Holly was still holding onto hope and her chutzpah despite her ailing health and lack of resources.

In 2015 Woodlawn was diagnosed with “terminal cancer that spread to her brain”  (Copeland, 2025, p. 285). She professed a desire to return home to pass in Puerto Rico, and while that did not occur, she was provided for in her last month by friends and fans, who all contributed to an online fundraiser. She passed away on December 6th, 2015 at the age of 69 (Darling, 2019). 

Holly was One of a Kind: Conclusion

Not only did Holly Woodlawn refuse to live a typical life, she refused to adhere to any gender expectations. She didn’t strive to be seen as a cis woman, and was open about her anatomy and fluidity with her presentation. 

She was willing to change her presentation to suit the needs of the environment she found herself in. While she was living with her parents she presented herself as a man. Copeland said that when he picked Holly up from the airport once he hadn’t recognized at first, she had a crew cut and stubbled, not to mention she was wearing Bermuda shorts, sneakers and a polo (Copeland, 2025, p. 80). However, she also presented femininely for the vast majority of her life, and she had an eclectic sense of style as well as great skill in the application of makeup (Copeland, 2025). She might have been called a chameleon, given how completely she could change her appearance, except for the fact that the end goal was never to blend in. 

Holly was very open about the gender affirming care that she had (or not ) received, though that was not what it was called in the 1960s and 70s. She had estrogen injections in the 1960s (Copeland, 2025, 93), but never had any sort of gender reassignment surgery (GRS). She didn’t feel the need to surgically alter her body, and she was more than willing to profess her love for her natal genitalia. “Holly loved having a cock. She told me so herself. The only reason she had ever considered a sex change in her youth was because the man she fell in love with wanted her to have it” (Copeland, 2025, p. 140). Woodlawn was an individual intimately comfortable with her body, and her identity, once she was able to carve a place for herself as an adult.

We could try to pin modern labels on Holly Woodlawn all we like, transgender/woman/vestite/sexual, genderfluid, agender, but the modern, rigid ways of thinking we seem to have boxed ourselves into would be a disservice to her. I think it is best if we just accept her identity for herself; “‘Darling what difference does it make if I’m a man or a woman? I’m Holly! Can’t those Motherfuckers understand that?’” (Woodlawn, via Copeland, 2025, 165). Holly Woodlawn’s story and identity are just as much a part of the time she lived in with the people who inspired her and she surrounded herself with, as it was her unwillingness to accept a role that didn’t suit her identity or her life. 

 Holly spent her life on a journey to fame that, for better or worse, she was unwilling to compromise on. That journey has become an inspiration to many trans folks, but “‘there was no role model for a Holly Woodlawn,’ said Penny Arcade, a fellow Warhol acolyte. ‘For Holly, whatever sacrifices she made in terms of acceptance of her family and society could never compete with the sense of freedom that Holly needed – the freedom to be herself’” (Moyer, 2015). She was truly a trailblazer, and even if it wasn’t the way she imagined, she definitely reached a superstar level of fame as a trans pioneer.

The original painting featured in this blog is available for purchase, and Holly Woodlawn, and her story, are featured in the first collection of my Ancestor Cards.

---

NOTE! Some links (those with an * next to the name) are affiliate links. I will receive a small commission if you use these links to purchase something. It will not change the price of the product for you.

---

References

(1 , 1). Holly Woodlawn , Lou Reed: Rock And Roll Heart [Video]. American Masters Digital Archive (WNET). https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/archive/interview/holly-woodlawn/

Copeland, J. (2025). Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn*. Feral House.

Darling, H.-H. (2019, December 16). Holly Woodlawn. Making Queer History. https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2019/12/16/holly-woodlawn

Dupêcher, N. (2019). Andy Warhol. The Museum of Modern Art; MoMA. https://www.moma.org/artists/6246-andy-warhol

Grimes, W. (2015, December 7). Holly Woodlawn, Transgender Star of 1970s Underground Films, Dies at 69. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/movies/holly-woodlawn-transgender-star-of-1970s-underground-films-dies-at-69.html

Hann, M. (2015, December 7). Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side: what became of Candy, Little Joe and co? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/shortcuts/2015/dec/07/holly-woodlawn-walk-on-the-wild-side-lou-reed-candy-little-joe

IMDb, & Sieger, R. (2015). Holly Woodlawn - Actress, Additional Crew. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0940341/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Moyer, J. (2015, December 7). Holly Woodlawn: Actress and star of Andy Warhol’s Factory, immortalised in “Walk on the Wild Side” | The Independent. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/holly-woodlawn-actress-and-star-of-andy-warhol-s-factory-immortalised-in-walk-on-the-wild-side-a6763936.html

Patterson, J. (2007, September 26). “Oh, the things I did!” The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/sep/26/art.theatre

Reed, L. (1972). Walk on the Wild Side [Song] On Transformer. RCA Victor.

Russell, G. R. (2025, February 5). “I’m a Woman, Darling”: The Life and Times of Warhol Superstar Holly Woodlawn. Interview Magazine. https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/the-life-and-times-of-warhol-superstar-holly-woodlawn

The Andy Warhol Museum. (2010). Andy Warhol’s Life. The Andy Warhol Museum; The Andy Warhol Museum. https://www.warhol.org/andy-warhols-life/

Trebay, G. (2013, November 1). The Real-Life Stories Told in “Walk on the Wild Side.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/fashion/The-Real-Life-Stories-Told-by-Lou-Reed-in-Walk-on-the-Wild-Side.html

Villegas, J. (2021, July 8). Remembering Holly Woodlawn, Trans Icon and Puerto Rican Queen of Underground Cinema - Latina. Latina. https://latina.com/remembering-holly-woodlawn-trans-icon-and-puerto-rican-queen-of-underground-cinema/

Her Story Lives on, and so Did She | Dora Richter (1881-1966): Not Just Cistory

A comment I often get on Instagram when I share about different aspects of Queer and Trans history is that ‘trans people are a new phenomina’. I could share many different figures from throughout history, like Elegabalus, or Public Universal Friend, both individuals who could be considered Transgender by today’s metrics who were born before 1800. 

However, I want to point out why some people genuinely believe this. (Ignoring the fact that many people simply lie to fit their own beliefs.) It’s because there have been multiple concerted efforts over the years to erase both queer and trans history. 

Regimes and groups who have decided that trans and queer individuals (however they were labeled and understood at the time) did not fit into their ideal societies and therefore should not exist, nor should the history of their existence. 

Dora Richter was almost one of those erased, by the Nazis in this case, however, she and her story survived. She was thought to have been murdered by the Nazis in the 1930s, but recently it was discovered that she had escaped and lived.

Early Life

While most of Dora’s history takes place in Berlin, it does not begin there. “Dora was born into a poor farming family in 1891 in the Erzgebirge region of Germany.” (Stroude, 2021) She was born ”[o]n April 16, [1891 or] 1892… Richter was born and baptized Catholic on April 17” (Lili-Elbe-Bibliothek, 2023). 

One exciting piece of ephemera that has been found recently is a record of Dora’s baptism! There are errata associated with this entry: “a note about the change of [Richter’s] first name was added, and the name was corrected in the baptismal entry! Additionally, the baptismal register contains a letter granting permission for the name change, including instructions to correct the name” (Lili-Elbe-Bibliothek, 2023). This official documentation suggests a level of support from the Catholic church and community more than 100 years ago is still being fought for by the trans community today.

Further evidence of the support Dora received from those around her is that her parents allowed her to dress and live as a girl (Riedel, 2022). Dora experienced what we would now call dysphoria. What little record we have of her early life suggests this, including the fact that she attempted to amputate her own penis at the age of six (Riedel, 2022).

Life in Berlin

Dora moved to Berlin and began the next phase of her life. Of course, she had to work, and she was a waiter, living in stealth (meaning that she lived and dressed as her gender assigned at birth while working as a waiter, but as a woman the rest of the time. (Smith 2024).

Pre WWII- Berlin was, “a hotbed of queer socializing, organizing, and theorizing during the early 20th Century…. They provided venues for serious discussion of politics and identity… the most striking example of the era’s permissiveness was the institution of ‘transvestite passes’” (Sanders, 2020). This was one of the many aspects of our Queer and Trans history that the Nazis tried to erase, as well as all of the writings that were produced before and during this time.

Dora would be one of the recipients of the passes when, after being arrested for wearing women’s clothing multiple times a sympathetic judge “released Richter into the care of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, who promised her employment at his Institut fur Sexualwissenchaft, or Insitute for Sexual Science — the first modern research institute for queer and transgender health, nestled in Berlin’s idyllic Tiergarten park” (Riedel, 2022).

Dora Richter was one of many women who worked for Dr. Hirschfeld (another of the domestic maids was painter Lili Elbi) (Bryan-Quamina). Those in charge of the institute understood that pass or no pass, it was hard for ‘transvestites’ to find work. So, they hired them as maids and secretaries (Stroude, 2021).

Richter received her first gender affirming surgery, an “orchiectomy, which she obtained via a surgeon named Dr. Erwin Gohrbandt in 1922” (Riedel, 2022). This was cutting-edge science at the time, and it allowed Dora’s body to utilize estrogen as it’s primary sex hormone, in turn, “her body became fuller, the growth of beard diminished, breast growth became noticeable and also the fat pad of the pelvis... took on more feminine forms”, effects similar to the results of modern HRT, achieved by taking a testosteron blocker, and a hormone such as estrogen or progesteron (Abraham via Riedel, 2022).

Finally, in the early 1930s, Dora Richter received what may have very well been the very first vaginoplasties due to the efforts of Dr. Levy-Lenz and Dr. Gohrbandt (Riedel, 2022). Richter and her compatriots were essentially putting their bodies and lives on the line for science and to be affirmed in their identity, a sacrifice that we, their trans descendants, are still indebted to them for.

The institure itself was quite famous internationally, “be[omcing] known as an institution providing counselling and treatment for ‘physical and psychological sexual disorders’ as well as, in particular, for ‘sexual transitions’, Hirschfeld’s term for homosexuals, transvestites and hermaphrodites. (The First Institute for Sexual Science) Transvestite was the terminology current at the time, and was coined by doctor Hirschfeld himself. (Stroude, 2021). 

Of course, this meant that it was a top priority for demolition by the Nazis. “On the 6th of May, 1933, the Deutsche Studentenschaft (German Student Union) and Nazi Sturmabteilung (Storm Troopers) raised the Institut, looting and destroying much of the contents. Thousands of books, journals, and other materials were burned in the street outside of the Institut” (Smith, 2024) This destruction in of itself was horrid, but it was made even worse by “Gohrbandt, with whom [Hirschfeld] had performed supportive operations, joined the Luftwaffe as chief medical adviser” (Schillace, 2021).

The destruction of the institute was not entirely successful in its goal to wipe out the memory of the Trans Mecca that was the Institute and its research, and despite their best efforts, we still know of them today.

She Lived

It was believed until recently that Dora Richter was murdered during this raid or soon after in a concentration camp. However, in 2023, a researcher named Clara Hartmann discovered the baptismal record we talked about before. The record was dated the 28th of January 1946, which was more than ten years after her supposed death (Smith 2024).

Hartmann followed the documents and discovered that “[b]y May of 1946, Dora Richter would reside in Nuremberg. She would live there for an additional 20 years, finally passing away on the 26th of April, 1966 in Allersberg, Germany. She was 74 years old” (Smith, 2024). We do not know much about her life after she fled the institute, but we do know that she escaped and lived.

Record Your Histories

We live in a world that relies so heavily on the written word; we only know about Dora Richter’s life because of documentation. I implore you to record your lives as trans and queer folks. Whether you write things down or record them, find a way to ensure that your story lives on for our own descendants. 

Our stories are precious and worth the telling, otherwise, those who fear and hate us wouldn’t work so hard to erase them  

The original painting featured in this blog is available for purchase, and Dora Richter, and her story, are featured in the first collection of my Ancestor Cards.

Bibliography

The First Institute for Sexual Science (1919-1933). Magnus Hirschfeld und das Institut für Sexualwissenschaft. (n.d.). https://magnus-hirschfeld.de/ausstellungen/institute/

In böhmischen Dörfern – Dora Richters Taufeintrag gefunden. Lili-Elbe-Bibliothek. 2023, April 25). https://lili-elbe.de/blog/2023/04/dora-richter-taufeintrag/

Bryan-Quamina, Gabrielle Magnus Hirschfeld and the Institute for Sexual Science. Science Museum Blog. (n.d.). https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/magnus-hirschfeld-and-the-institute-for-sexual-science/

Riedel, S. (2022, March 15). Remembering Dora Richter, one of the first women to receive gender-affirming surgery. Them. https://www.them.us/story/dora-richter-first-trans-woman-to-receive-gender-affirming-surgery

Sanders, W. (2020, January 27). 9 lesser-known details of queer persecution during Nazi Germany. Them. https://www.them.us/story/queer-persecution-during-nazi-germany

Schillace, B. (2024, February 20). The forgotten history of the world’s first trans clinic. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-forgotten-history-of-the-worlds-first-trans-clinic/

Smith, G. (2024, June 25). Dora Richter lived. Philadelphia Gay News. https://epgn.com/2024/06/25/dora-richter-lived/ 

Stroude, W. (2022, September 26). The incredible story of the first known trans woman to undergo gender confirmation surgery. Attitude. https://web.archive.org/web/20230620111801/https://www.attitude.co.uk/culture/sexuality/the-incredible-story-of-the-first-known-trans-woman-to-undergo-gender-confirmation-surgery-304097/

The Great Race for Coverage | Bobbie Lea Bennet (1947- 2019): Not Just Cistory

There’s a saying ‘Those who don’t learn their history are doomed to repeat it’ credited to George Santayana, a Spanish Philosopher (Virginia Tech). There’s another saying as well… ‘wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey,” which is attributed to the Doctor. Both suggest that, in their own ways, time is a loop. For those of us who are familiar with Trans and Queer History (either through research or living it) and are currently experiencing current events in the United States this feels extra relevant. 

At the time of the writing of this blog post “25 states have enacted laws/ policies limiting youth access to GAC [Gender Affirming Care]” (Kates, 2024). There have also recently been court cases regarding transgender individuals’ ability to have their insurance covering their Gender Affirming Care, particularly surgeries. 

Just this year “[a] federal appellate court in Richmond became the first in the country to rule that state health-care plans must pay for gender-affirming surgeries” (Weiner, 2024). Just next door,”[i]In West Virginia, transgender Medicaid users challenged the state’s program, which since 2004 has by law banned “transsexual surgeries…. [and] In North Carolina, state employees challenged their coverage, which in 2018 excluded surgical treatment of gender dysphoria — the clinical diagnosis of a disconnect between a person’s gender and birth sex”  (Weiner ,2024). The fight for state and federal healthcare programs to cover gender-affirming care for transgender individuals is still very much ongoing.

And now we come to the subject of this installment of ‘Not Just Cistory’, Bobbie Lea Bennett. What Bennett is most known for, perhaps, is not only being the first person to have her gender-affirming care (commonly referred to as sex-reassignment surgery or SRS at the time) covered by her insurance but for forcing Medicare to keep to their word to do so.

Early Life

Bobbie Lea Bennett was born on March 31st 1947 with osteogenesis imperfecta (Phoenix, 2022). Hopkins Medicine explains that “Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is an inherited (genetic) bone disorder that is present at birth. It is also known as brittle bone disease” (Johns Hopkins, 2022). This condition meant that she was a lifelong wheelchair user and that she was familiar with society’s response to someone who was different and needed medical treatment to alleviate the suffering caused by this difference.

Insurance Bait and Switch

Not much is available online about Bobbie Lea’s life, until the late seventies. Bennett was receiving transition services “through the Gender Identity Clinic at Galveston, Texas… [and] she had been told that the cost of her surgeries would be covered by Medicare under Social Security’s disability benefits program.” (p. 245, Matte). 

However, after receiving this life-changing surgery, she was denied coverage by Medicare, allegedly with no reason given for this change in tone (Phoenix, 2022) It was reported, later that year, that the decision had been reversed  “after ‘irate taxpayers’ flooded the Medicare offices with the phone calls opposing state payment for sex reassignment surgery under any circumstance” (p. 246, Matte).
It’s not hard to imagine, even 46 years later, angry citizens x-ing (is that what we call tweeting now? I’ve never been clear on that) about how ‘this is why Obamacare is ruining this country!!’. It’s certainly not an extinct mindset, as the many, many different cases currently being made to obstruct access for trans youth to life-saving health care.

Fighting Back

Regardless of the reason for the decision, Bennet decided to fight back.  She “mounted a very public media campaign to claim what she saw as her rightful benefits. She drove from her home in San Diego, first to the White House and then to Medicare Director Thomas M. Tierney’s office at Medicare headquarters in Baltimore, which she refused to leave until he would meet with her” (p. 246, Matte).

As a transgender woman who was also disabled, she qualified for medicare, and its coverage of her medical procedures, regardless of whether being transgender was considered a disability or not. This was different from other contemporary cases, which had relied on the idea that being transexual (as it was referred to at the time) was a disability, and therefore, the medical procedures to help mitigate it, ought to be covered by Medicare (p. 245 Matte). This intersectional identity gave Bobbie Lea Bennett an advantage of sorts, in terms of her argument.

Between the publicity her case had received, her right to coverage due to her existing disability outside of her gender, and her determination to see things through, “three days after their meeting, she received a cheque in the mail for $4600” (p. 246, Matte )  which would be worth $22,191.47 in today’s money, according to US Inflation Calculator. According to Transition, when the Los Angeles Times picked up the story, “Medicaid denied that the purpose of the cheque was to cover her sex-reassignment surgery and claimed that they were simply correcting a bureaucratic error in payments owed” (p. 246, Matte ).

Support & Connection

As well as having the support of the Medicare board (no matter how reluctant it was), Bennett seems to have had a supportive family. Four years later, in 1981, Bobbie’s sister, gave birth to a child, acting as a surrogate for Bobbie and her husband (Seattle Daily Times). This was another instance of Bobbie being in the news, as the Seattle Daily Times published a small article on January 17th, 1981 about the event.

Bennett was the host of “‘Barbie’s Talk Show’ which aired in Austin Texas….[it] was a community television program to raise public awareness about handicapped accessibility issues” (Honaker forest Lawn, 2019). “Bobbie founded the St. Tammany Organization for the Handicapped” as well as her talk show (Honaker Forest Lawn, 2019). Her understanding of creating visibility around an issue, and the importance of connecting with an audience may have helped her harness the media power she needed to make her cross-country trek a success.

Conclusion

Bennett has also been an inspiration to others, looking to create a conection and visibility for disability rights. The  screenplay, titled ‘Emily Driver’s Great Race Through Space and Time’ “follows 12-year-old Emily as she sets off on a time-traveling trip across the country after being denied a request for a needed wheelchair. On her journey, she meets leaders who fought for equal rights for people with disabilities throughout history” (Pierce, 2020) The creators, Mozgala and Brenner directly credit Bobbie Lea Bennett as a source of inspiration for the piece (Pierce, 2020).

Sometimes it’s hard to feel like we, as a queer and trans community, are making any progress when it seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same. To combat this feeling of hopelessness that comes with cyclical oppression, it’s essential to look to our elders and learn from their experiences, as well as to work together with and learn from other marginalized communities. We may not be a part of them, but many members of the trans and queer communities have intersectionalities that fall encompass those experiences.

Bobbie Lea Bennet, and her story, are featured in the first collection of my Ancestor Cards.

Bibliography

Johns Hopkins University. (2022, July 19). Osteogenesis imperfecta. Johns Hopkins Medicine. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/osteogenesis-imperfecta#:~:text=What%20is%20osteogenesis%20imperfecta%20in,formed%20normally%2C%20and%20other%20problems.

Kates, L. D. and J. (2024c, August 22). Policy tracker: Youth access to gender affirming care and state policy restrictions. KFF. https://www.kff.org/other/dashboard/gender-affirming-care-policy-tracker/

Matte, N. (2014, November). Historicizing liberal American transnormativities: Medicine, Media, activism, 1960-1990 (thesis). Historicizing Liberal American Transnormativities: Media, Medicine, Activism, 1960-1990. University of Toronto. Retrieved August 23, 2024, from https://hdl.handle.net/1807/68460.

Obituary for Bobbie Lea Peterson at Honaker Funeral Home. Obituary | Bobbie Lea Peterson of Madisionville, Louisiana | Honaker Funeral Home. (2019). https://www.honakerforestlawn.com/obituary/bobbie-peterson

Phoenix, B. (2024, May 7). LGBT+ History month X disabled students group - Bobbie Lea Bennett. THE HOOT. https://thehootstudents.com/lgbt-history-month-x-disabled-students-group-bobbie-lea-bennett/

Pierce, J. R. (2020, March 2). Disability takes the wheel in “Emily driver.” AMERICAN THEATRE. https://www.americantheatre.org/2020/03/02/disability-takes-the-wheel-in-emily-driver/

Sister of transsexual bears baby boy for her. (1981, January 17). Seattle Daily Times. Retrieved August 23, 2024, from https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/j96020802.

Virginia Tech. (2019, January 8). History repeating. College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences | Virginia Tech. https://liberalarts.vt.edu/magazine/2017/history-repeating.html

Weiner, R. (2024, April 29). Court says state health-care plans can’t exclude gender-affirming surgery - The Washington Post. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/04/29/gender-affirming-surgery-state-health-care-plans/ 

Mother of Multiplayer | Danielle Bunten Berry (1949- 1998): Not Just Cistory

I am often momentarily convinced by the narrative continually being forced upon us by angry gamer bros, that gaming has always been an entirely male industry, only recently opening its gates to women, but, despite what the trolls and misogynists say in the comments section, that simply isn’t true. In 1964, the first narrative video game was written by a woman; Mabel Addis, a teacher who wanted her students to be more engaged in her lessons on ancient Sumeria (Wilaret, 2019).   

From there, women’s involvement in gaming only grew. It is estimated that, in 1989, a mere 3% of video game developers were women, and in 2013 it was 12% (Gracer, 2013). Flash-forward to the year 2021 and Statistica says that 30% of game developers are women (and 8% are nonbinary, gender fluid/genderqueer, two-spirited, or transgender) (Clement, 2023). Suffice it to say that women have always been a part of creating video games, even if at a minuscule percentage. 

In 1989 Danielle Bunten Berry’s game M.U.L.E had already been published for six years, she was three years away from coming out publicly as a woman and beginning her transition, and eighteen years away from (post-humously) being added to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame (Costikyan, 2023). 

Berry is far from being the only transgender woman to help shape video games into what they are. She is in the company of other talented individuals such as Veda Hlubinka-Cook, Cathryn Mataga, Rebecca Heineman, and Jamie Fenton (Johnson, 2021), but she is the subject of our focus for this entry into the Not Just Cistory series

Early Life

Danielle Bunten Berry was born “February 19, 1949, in St. Louis, Missouri… [the first] of six children” (Costikyan, 2023). Danielle and her family moved to “Little Rock [Arkansas] in 1965, and Bunten lived in and around Little Rock until the last years of her life, when she moved to Palo Alto, California” (Costikyan, 2023).

Even during her childhood, games were an important part of Danielle’s life. In an interview, she states “When I was a kid the only times my family spent together that weren't totally dysfunctional were when we were playing games” (Hague, 1997). She goes on to explain how this influenced her philosophy when creating games, saying “Consequently I believe games are a wonderful way to socialize” (Hague, 1997). This philosophy is evident in across her career and has left an indelible mark on gaming as a whole.

As a teen and young adult “Bunten worked at a drugstore and as an assistant scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop to provide extra money [to support her family]. Bunten graduated from Catholic High School for Boys” in Little Rock (Costikyan, 2023). 

A potent combination of intelligent and enterprising, “In 1971, Bunten opened a bicycle shop, the Highroller Cyclerie, near the University of Arkansas… and received a degree in industrial engineering from UA in 1974. Bunten’s first job involved doing mathematical modeling of urban systems for the National Science Foundation” (Costikyan, 2023).

Entering the Game Designing World

Right from the start of her game developer career, Bunten was an innovator, her “first game, 1978’s ‘Wheeler Dealers,’ [sic] was the first personal computer game that was packaged in a printed box, and one of the first — if not the first — computer games that allowed for more than two players” (Koon, 2012). 

Her innovative spirit and philosophy of communal gaming were evident, as “the game shipped with four custom-built controllers made from red wooden macrame beads with a single button glued into one end, which players used to make stock-market-like trades while competing against one another” (Koon, 2012).

She continued on her entrepreneurial path, when “in 1979, Bunten partnered with her brother and a few friends to found the game company Ozark Software [sic]. The group ran the organization from Bunton’s [sic] basement…” (AtariWomen).

A Cult Classic and Rockstar Status

The company began to take off when “[i]n 1982, Bunten was selected by Electronic Arts (EA), a recently founded company, as one of a handful of ‘electronic artists’ it published, and Ozark developed five games for EA over the next few years” (Costikyan, 2023).

One of the games that Bunten Berry was tasked to write for EA was M.U.L.E, which would become the cult classic she is most known for (Hague, 1997). Released in:

[1983, it is], a turn-based strategy game that could accommodate up to four players at the same console. An exercise in supply and demand economics, the game forces the players, who represent settlers on the planet of Irata, to compete over food, energy, and mineral resources (Costikyan, 2023).

M.U.L.E is sometimes considered to be a monetary failure, but in a 1997 interview Bunten Berry disagreed, saying:

given some caveats, it didn't do all that badly. It sold 30,000 copies, and for a game whose home platform–the Atari 800–went out of production just months after its release, that ain't bad. Also, although we ported it to the C64 it had a very poor solo capability but still sold good numbers there too (Hague, 1997)

Proving that she and her design company were not just one-hit-wonders, Ozark Softscape’s next game Seven Cities of Gold did even better, selling five times as many copies (Koon, 2012). Ozark Softscape and Danielle Bunten Berry had made their mark on the gaming industry, even if it wasn’t initially evident. 

EA, however, seemed to sense this (or maybe they just wanted to broaden their market, by making gaming look cool), treating Danielle Bunten Berry and her colleagues almost like rockstars:

a famous publicity shot of the Ozark Softscape team created for EA shows programmers Bill Bunten, Jim Rushing, Alan Watson and Dan[i] Bunten lounging picturesquely on a bench with a dog while a hot blonde sips a drink nearby, the four looking decidedly more like Lynyrd Skynyrd than a bunch of game geeks (Koon 2012).

Leaving EA

However, this honeymoon phase/world tour couldn’t continue forever. After creating several games for the company “Ozark and EA fell out over a new version of M.U.L.E. and EA’s insistence that it include combat, which Bunten felt was a betrayal of the game’s intent and aesthetic” (Costikyan, 2023).

Ozark Softscape did go on to create two more game titles, now working with Micropose, but they never did recreate the monetary success of their earlier titles, particularly Seven Cities of Gold (Koon, 2012). Melanie Bunten Stark, Danielle’s eldest, says that money was never the goal for her, she was in it for the love of the game (Koon, 2012). (Okay that was a dumb joke, but I just watched the first episode of Fallout, bear with me.)

Becoming Ms. Danielle Berry

In 1992, after the end of her third marriage, Danielle announced to people in both her personal and professional life, that she was a woman, and was beginning her transition (Costikyan, 2023). Danielle described Transition as “the name given to the time when your old pronoun doesn't fit anymore but neither does the new one” (Hague, 1997). In November of that year, she underwent gender-affirming surgery, which was, at the time called sex-reassignment surgery (Costikyan, 2023).

Another thing that was changed by her transition, was Bunten Berry’s involvement in the video game industry. In 1997 she described her new life and new priorities:

I'm a little more than three years into my new life role as Ms. Danielle Berry, and her career looks to be somewhat different from old Mr. Dan Bunten's. For one thing I'm not as good a programmer as he was. I'm also not as willing to sit for hours in front of a computer to make something that other people can use to socialize. I tend to need to socialize far more often than he did. Thus, I do design and consulting rather than programming and development. However, with my background I seem uniquely suited to this business so I think I'll stay around in one form or another for as long as they'll have me (Hague).

End of Life

Around the time of the publication of what would end up being her final game, Warsport, for MPath, an online gaming publisher, Bunten Berry was diagnosed with lung cancer, which would eventually kill her (Koon, 2012). 

In May of the following year, she was honored with an award for lifetime achievement from the Computer Game Developers Association. Two months later Danielle Bunten Berry passed away at the age of 49 on July 3, 1998(Koon, 2012). 

This award, given mere weeks before her death was not the last she would receive; indeed in 2007, she was added to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame (Costikyan, 2023).

Conclusion

However, her impact, in my opinion, is more deeply felt in the world of gaming today, than in any (well-deserved) award she received before or after her death. She has inspired developers like Will Wright, original designer of the Sims franchise, as well as Sid Meier, designer of the Civilization games (Costikyan, 2023), as well as multiplayer games at large.

She really was the mother of multiplayer. Not that someone else couldn’t have come up with what she did, but she did. It was her boundless creativity and ingenuity that started the evolution of what would become a core part of video games today.

Her belief that video games could be just as social as the board games she treasured with her family changed the trajectory of the industry in ways any other developer might not have, had they pioneered the radical idea of multiplayer instead.

Trans women and cis women have always been a part of gaming, even if their identities have been unknown to the public, and it is foolish to assume otherwise. Games have always been for whoever wants to play, and their creation is the same.

The original painting featured in this blog available for purchase, and Danielle Bunten Berry, and her story, are featured in the first collection of my Ancestor Cards.

Bibliography

Atari. (2019, March 6). Danielle Bunten Berry. atariwomen. https://www.atariwomen.org/stories/danielle-bunten-berry/ 

Clement, J. (2023, December 12). Global Game Developer Gender 2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/453634/game-developer-gender-distribution-worldwide/ 

Costikyan, G. (2023, September 7). Danielle Bunten Berry (1949–1998). Encyclopedia of Arkansas. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/danielle-bunten-berry-4524/ 

Graser, M. (2013, October 1). Videogame biz: Women still very much in the minority. Variety. https://variety.com/2013/digital/features/womengamers1200683299-1200683299/ 

Hague, J. (n.d.). Danielle Berry. In Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers. interview, Dadgum Games. Retrieved from https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/BERRY.HTM. 

Johnson, S. (2021, May 30). Seven trailblazing LGBT+ pioneers who helped to shape video gaming as we know it. PinkNews. https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/05/30/lgbt-video-game-pioneers-david-gaider-danielle-bunten-berry-gaming/ 

Koon, D. (2019, April 26). Dani Bunten changed video games forever. Arkansas Times. https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2012/02/08/dani-bunten-changed-video-games-forever?oid=2059426 

Willaert, “Critical Kate.” (2022, November 25). The Sumerian game: The most important video game you’ve never heard of. A Critical Hit! https://www.acriticalhit.com/sumerian-game-most-important-video-game-youve-never-heard/

Success and Souffle | Lucy Hicks Anderson (1886- 1954): Not Just Cistory

Our first entry for the Not Just Cistory series is an entrepreneur and a businesswoman, who became famous across the United States during the first half of the twentieth century, for her business skills, her ability to host a party, and her fashion sense.

Early Life

Lucy Hicks Anderson né Lawson was born in “Waddy, Kentucky in 1886” (Keehnen & Salvo) and was adamant that she was a girl from birth, insisting that she wore dresses to school. Her doctor advised her mother to let her live as a girl, as it was obvious that she was in fact, a girl. Lucy received the support of her family and was able to live nearly her entire life as her true self. (Coren & Snorton, 2022)

Based on the 1900 census, Lucy spent her early years working for the Waddy family before moving away from home at age 15 (Keehnen & Salvo). During her travels, she met the man who would become her first husband; “Clarence Hicks, in New Mexico” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

Entrepreneurial Success

She settled in the small town of Oxnard California in Ventura County, the home of a “major sugar factory that attracted blue-collar workers from the surrounding areas in Mexico” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

Noticing a gap in the market, Lucy started “the only house of prostitution in Oxnard” (Hicks, Lucy L. [Tobias Lawson]).

During this time she was also “a renowned chef and hostess for wealthy families throughout her community” (Walker, 2018). She was a fantastic cook and was able to use this to traverse racial and gender lines in the community (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

A 1945 article after Lucy Hicks Anderson was outed notes her skills as a chef: “By the time she opened her first house of prostitution, off Oxnard's crib-bordered China Alley, her genius in the kitchen was the talk of the town” (CALIFORNIA: Sin & Souffl [sic] 1945). Even in ‘disgrace’ the society of the time was singing the praises of her cooking, a skill associated with women.

The Heart of a Community

She also remarried in 1944, to “a soldier named Ruben Anderson” (Coren & Snorton, 2022). During this period of the late thirties and early forties, Hicks Anderson’s business flourished and her scope of services spread. As time passed, she became more and more a part of the community, and:

tended children, helped dress many an Oxnard daughter for parties. The town thought little of seeing fat and prosperous Oxnard dames driving to Lucy's house to borrow one of her legendary recipes. When a new Catholic priest came to town, Lucy prepared the barbecue with which the parish welcomed him” (CALIFORNIA: Sin & Souffl [sic] 1945).

She was a beloved member of the community, and quite famous for her hosting skills and her fashion, being written about both in multiple magazines, one being Time magazine (Coren & Snorton, 2022). Her community also knew her from her generous “donations to charities such as the Red Cross and Boy Scouts” (Walker, 2018).

She was also a great supporter of the soldiers of the Second World War and their families. She bought war bonds, threw going away parties for soldiers, and consoled the parents of the ones who did not return home (Walker, 2018).

Betrayal by Her Community

Months after her second marriage, “in August 1945, an outbreak of venereal disease was said to have come from Hicks' establishment; Lucy and all of her employees had to be examined by a doctor” which led to her being outed as a ‘man’ (Hicks, Lucy L. [Tobias Lawson]).

Lucy was charged with perjury; the rationale being that she signed her marriage certificate that stated she was a woman, which was, in the court’s eyes, untrue (Notable Kentucky African Americans Database).

The prosecution provided “five doctors to testify to her legal gender, to the gender that she was assigned at birth”. Meanwhile, “Lucy's lawyers argued that she had hidden [female] organs”, within her body, and was truly a woman. “Ultimately, the jury returned a verdict of guilty… Her sentence, a small fine and 10 years probation” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

As news spread about the discovery of the genitalia present at Lucy’s birth, both she and her husband were brought up on federal charges:

Ruben Anderson was facing a maximum of 10 years in a federal prison, and a top fine of 10,000, because he had the government send his wife $950 in allotment checks… The US Army argued that she was not legally married to her husband, since same sex marriage was illegal. And the US government didn't recognize that Lucy, being a trans woman, was a woman. (Coren & Snorton, 2022)

These charges were truly what pushed Lucy Hicks Anderson out of the life she had built for herself.

The federal courts they were "both found guilty. The court invalidated their marriage, and Ruben was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Lucy was sentenced to a year in prison at Leavenworth Penitentiary, a men's facility” (Coren & Snorton, 2022).

After finishing her sentence, Lucy Hicks Anderson left her business and her community, as “Oxnard also banned the couple for 10 years, so they took up residency in Los Angeles as husband and wife, where Lucy lived until her death in 1954” (Walker, 2018).

Conclusion

This story of success, and then the betrayal of the community that loved her, is a testament to the fact that not only transwomen have always existed, but that they can be successful, even if the community that benefits from them does not always support them entirely.

The arguments by both her lawyers, and that of the opposition show just how imbedded the idea of genitalia and physical form equalling gender is in American Society.

A woman can perform all of femininity perfectly, be an amazing cook and hostess, have flawless fashion, and be featured in Time magazine for it, not to mention being a generous benefactor to a community that loved her in response, and still be disqualified from the title of ‘woman’ for the fact that she does not have the appropriate formulation of reproductive organs.

However, Lucy Hicks Anderson’s refusal to hide away and present herself as who society wanted her to be also reminds me of the resistance that can be found in joy and being oneself. Lucy did not hide away, she simply moved to another place where she could live happily, and sometimes that's all we can do; move on, and be happy when and where we can.

This piece of art is available on my store and is a 6 x 9 inch gouache portrait. A portion of the proceeds of this piece will be donated to charity.

Bibliography

CALIFORNIA: sin & souffl [sic]. (1945, November 5). Time Magazine, XLVI(19). Retrieved January 11, 2024, from https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,852379,00.html.

Coren, A., & Snorton, C. R. (2022, November 30). Lucy Hicks Anderson. Sidedoor. , Smithsonian. Retrieved January 11, 2024,.

Hicks, Lucy L. [Tobias Lawson]. Omeka RSS. (n.d.). https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/1363

Keehnen, O. (n.d.). Lucy Hicks Anderson. Legacy Project Chicago. https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/lucy-hicks-anderson

Walker, M. (2018, February 21). Highlight: Lucy Hicks Anderson, a Black Trans Pioneer. ACLU of Mississippi. https://www.aclu-ms.org/en/news/highlight-lucy-hicks-anderson-black-trans-pioneer