note: the dates before people's names refers to their birth year
Ancient Accounts of Gender Nonconformity and Homosexuality
Ancient Egypt:
In 1478 BC, 'King' Hatshepsut ascended the throne. She was the chief wife of Thutmose II, who was her half brother and also the Pharaoh at the time. She ruled in the place of Thumose III, who was her stepson, as he was only young when his father - the Pharaoh - died.
She was a very ambitious woman and it wasn't enough for her to be Queen Regent, so she sent Thutmose III away and named herself Pharaoh, telling people that the God Amun was her Father.
Hatshepsut is mostly depicted as a male in statues and such; wearing a beard, dressed in standard male Pharaoh clothing and with a more masculine body.
Unfortunately, after she died a lot of the records of her were hidden as the idea of a woman 'King' was still pretty taboo in Egypt. This helped preserve most of the statues from wearing down throughout the centuries.
Ancient Greece/Rome:
Around 3 BC, there was a cult of religious followers who worshipped the 'Mother Goddess' who was the daughter of the Sky God and Earth Mother, known by the Romans as Cybele and the Greeks as Cybele. She was first depicted as a hermaphrodite, though it's thought that the Greeks made up a story of her being the offspring of Zeus and the other gods fearing her because of her hermaphrodite. In the Greek version of things, the Gods castrated her. This tale is what is thought to have influenced the priests of Cybele, the Galli. They were said to have removed all male parts of themselves, cross dressed and even became prostitutes for men.
In 117 AD, Hadrian, known for building Hadrian's Wall, became Emperor. It was not uncommon for men to practise homosexuality in Ancient Rome but Hadrian is noted as being especially open with his sexuality and mourned his consort, Antinous, more than what would have been expected.
Around 3 BC, there was a cult of religious followers who worshipped the 'Mother Goddess' who was the daughter of the Sky God and Earth Mother, known by the Romans as Cybele and the Greeks as Cybele. She was first depicted as a hermaphrodite, though it's thought that the Greeks made up a story of her being the offspring of Zeus and the other gods fearing her because of her hermaphrodite. In the Greek version of things, the Gods castrated her. This tale is what is thought to have influenced the priests of Cybele, the Galli. They were said to have removed all male parts of themselves, cross dressed and even became prostitutes for men.
In 117 AD, Hadrian, known for building Hadrian's Wall, became Emperor. It was not uncommon for men to practise homosexuality in Ancient Rome but Hadrian is noted as being especially open with his sexuality and mourned his consort, Antinous, more than what would have been expected.
Modern History, Gender Boundaries and Significant Events
1755- Charlotte Clarke
First publicly transgender and lesbian woman the UK.
1832- Mary Edwards Walker
Walker and her brother were both brought up by their parents that had a disregard for gender roles that at the time was very progressive. Her mother often helped out on the farm while her father shared the house work; habits which were passed on to the children. Mary and her mother were known to work wearing things that were traditionally not worn by women, with the idea they were too constricting for work.
Her parents raised her to be as educated as her brother, which was still an unconventional thing in the 1800s. She ended up being the only woman in her class to graduate from Syracuse Medical College. She got married at 23, but kept her last name- a further protest to gender nonconformity. Together they opened a surgery but women were still frowned upon in the medical profession.
She was an advocate for women wearing trousers and was of the opinion that skirts and dresses not only impaired mobility, but were also unhygienic and spread all sorts of dust and bacteria.
In the American Civil War, Walker became the first woman to be employed as a surgeon by the American Army.
1838- Herculine Barbin/ Abel Barbin
Barbin was a French intersex person who, after living as a female for 22 years, was later found to have male pseudohermaphroditism. In his memoirs (in which he refers to himself using female pronouns before redesignation and male pronouns after), he mentions a few lesbian relationships.
1877- Isabelle Eberhardt
Born in 1877 to a Russian noblewoman and and an Armenian anarchist and former priest, Eberhardt already had an interesting start to life. She was brought up educated by her parents, resulting in her being fluent in many different languages. Accompanied by her mother, she started travelling around North Africa and ended up doing quite a bit of writing under the male pseudonym Pierre Loti.
After her mother and father died, she did more travelling alone and fell in with the Qadiriyya, who were a Muslim Brotherhood. At this point, she was travelling around under the name Si Mahmoud Essadi, disguised as a man. On her quest to plough through gender barriers of the time, she even cut her hair short, though did still end up getting married to an Algerian Soldier in 1901.
1882- Lili Elbe
She was born in Vejle, Denmark, with the name Einar Wegener. She studied art at the Royal Danish Academy of fine arts, where he met his future wife, Gerda Gottlieb. The two married in 1904.
Wegener often dressed in female clothes to model for Gerda, who was a fashion illustrator. It is thought that it was this that kick started her thoughts of being a woman and transitioning.
The two moved to Paris, which was a lot more modern and open, and she lived as a woman, taking the name Lili Elbe.
From 1930-1931, she went though 4 gender reassignment surgeries and legally changed her name to Lili Elbe. However, because she was now legally a female, her marriage to Gerda was void as same sex marriage was not legal in Denmark until 2012. She was proposed to by a childhood friend after this, and planned to have a final operation- a uterus transplant and artificial vagina construction, which she hoped would allow her to become pregnant. Some accounts offer the idea that Elbe was intersex and already had ovaries that were not quite formed.
Elbe died shortly after her 4th and final operation at the age of 48.
1893- Violette Morris
Morris was brought up in a convent. She was known to be bisexual (some cases claim she was out as a lesbian) and married a male in 1914; a marriage that lasted 9 years. She was one of the first great female athletes, competing in shotput, discus, boxing, football and motor racing to name but a few, and often competed against men. She was known for the saying 'ce qu'un homme fait, Violette peut le faire' which means 'anything a man can do, Violette can do'.
In addition to her athleticism, which was characteristically unfeminine for the time, she was also a heavy smoker- something else that was considered masculine. It has also been claimed that she had a double mastectomy to be able to fit into race cars better. Because of all of this, and the fact she was an out lesbian (/bisexual), the French media were always against her and was kicked from a number of sports teams.
In the Depression of the 30s, Morris ended up getting into the black market and turned into a bit of a thug. She was spotted and initiated into the French Gestapo, being invited by Hitler personally to the Berlin Olympics. She later gained the nickname 'the Gestapo's Hyena' because of her reputation for being a brutal torturer.
1914- Billy Tipton
Tipton, born Dorothy Lucille Tipton, tried for a number of years to get into the jazz industry that was very much male dominated. He started binding his chest and trying to pass as male; which worked and he gained more and more fame. He lived most of his life as a male and many were shocked when he was revealed to be a woman on his deathbed; her band members and even her previous wives had no idea! It is unclear whether Tipton was transgender or a lesbian, or just lived his life as a man to get ahead in the industry.
1915- Michael Dillon
Born Laura Maud Dillon, he was rejected by his father shortly after his birth when his mother died. He was brought up by her aunties with her brother, and attended St Anne's College in Oxford. Through puberty, he grew facial hair and developed a deep voice. After working in a garage for some years, he was prescribed testosterone hormone pills and had a double mastectomy at the age of 27. Two years later, he legally changed his birth certificate to male. His brother also rejected him at this point.
Dillon was the first known case of a FtM sex change (surgically), and is also thought to be the first woman to be given hormone pills to transition. After transitioning, he studied at medical school and ended up travelling as a ship's doctor.
He lived out the last of his life in a Buddhist monastery in Bengal.
1918- Roberta Cowell
Her birth name was Robert Marshall Cowell, and was one of three children. Growing up, her hobbies included motor sport, photography and film making. After leaving school, she went on to work as a Pilot with the RAF, but was discharged because of airsickness.
In 1936 she started studying engineering at UCL, eventually starting motor racing too.
She served as both Second Lieutenant and Pilot Officer in WW2, and got married to a woman in 1941. This marriage lasted just 8 years.
By the age of 32, she was taking oestrogen but still identifying as male. After meeting Michael Dillon, had an inguinal orchiectomy (the removal of the testicles). She was legally declared as intersex after this, and had her birth certificate changed to female. In 1951 she had a second operation; a vaginoplasty. This was performed by Harold Gilles, who was the surgeon who carried out Michael Dillon's surgeries. Cowell was the first male to have this kind of procedure in the UK.
1955- Ken Russell's Teddy Girls
'Teddy Girls' were a subculture of British teens in the 50s that took to dressing like 'teddy boys'. This included smart-looking Edwardian suits paired with American Rock 'n' Roll 'greaser' hair'. Teddy boys quickly gained a bad rep with the media, the kind of working class kids that would hang around and cause trouble.
In a way, this style was the punk of their time. They dressed this way to break out of social norms, and the teddy girls especially break out of gender boundaries for the time.
1960- Grayson Perry
Perry is a well known potter, documentary presenter and transvestite. He grew up with his mother, her boyfriend and three siblings. He discovered his love for transvestism when he was just a teenager, developing an alter-ego who goes by the name of Claire. Growing up, he was very confused about the conflict in masculinity and femininity in him- he has said he knew he wasn't gay, nor transgender, so growing up with this kind of thing not talked about was a very confusing time. When his sister read his diary and told the rest of his family (who didn't react well), he suppressed the habits until he went to university.
Claire, at first, had a pretty boring style. Perry talks about the transition into more crazy outfits and says that passing for a woman in public wasn't very rewarding and that he envied transvestites who had the confidence to pull off more out-there stuff. This was how Claire ended up the Little Bo Peep style character we know today.
1967- Sexual Offences Act
This decriminalised sexual relationships between men over the age of 21.
1969- Stonewall Riots
Around this time, homosexuality in New York was illegal in public, so police started targeting private gay clubs. On 28th June, 1969, the police raided the Stonewall Inn- a gay club in Greenwich Village. Though the raid was completely valid (the club was selling alcohol without the necessary license), when LGBT civilians started being arrested, many others started protesting. This kick started days of riots all over the city and started the LGBT rights movement in America. This, in turn, influenced the start of groups like the Gay Liberation Front in England.
1971- Nullity of Marriage Act
This law prevented same sex marriage which included transgender, transsexual and intersex individuals because in the year before, a law had been passed to prohibit the legal changing of gender on birth certificates.
1972- The first Gay Pride march happened in London.
1984- Laverne Cox
Born male in Alabama, Cox grew up with her mother and twin brother, and knew from a very young age that she was transgender. She studied at Alabama School or Fine Arts, Indiana University and Marymount Manhattan College. She had always loved the arts, dance in particular.
She was the first transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy for her role in Orange is the New Black, and is a very public trans rights activist.
1988- Section 28
This bill banned schools from 'promoting homosexuality' in their teachings, or even teaching that it was acceptable. This caused a lot of LGBT support to close due to fears of prosecution.
2003- Section 28 repeal
1838- Herculine Barbin/ Abel Barbin
Barbin was a French intersex person who, after living as a female for 22 years, was later found to have male pseudohermaphroditism. In his memoirs (in which he refers to himself using female pronouns before redesignation and male pronouns after), he mentions a few lesbian relationships.
1877- Isabelle Eberhardt
Born in 1877 to a Russian noblewoman and and an Armenian anarchist and former priest, Eberhardt already had an interesting start to life. She was brought up educated by her parents, resulting in her being fluent in many different languages. Accompanied by her mother, she started travelling around North Africa and ended up doing quite a bit of writing under the male pseudonym Pierre Loti.
After her mother and father died, she did more travelling alone and fell in with the Qadiriyya, who were a Muslim Brotherhood. At this point, she was travelling around under the name Si Mahmoud Essadi, disguised as a man. On her quest to plough through gender barriers of the time, she even cut her hair short, though did still end up getting married to an Algerian Soldier in 1901.
1882- Lili Elbe
She was born in Vejle, Denmark, with the name Einar Wegener. She studied art at the Royal Danish Academy of fine arts, where he met his future wife, Gerda Gottlieb. The two married in 1904.
Wegener often dressed in female clothes to model for Gerda, who was a fashion illustrator. It is thought that it was this that kick started her thoughts of being a woman and transitioning.
The two moved to Paris, which was a lot more modern and open, and she lived as a woman, taking the name Lili Elbe.
From 1930-1931, she went though 4 gender reassignment surgeries and legally changed her name to Lili Elbe. However, because she was now legally a female, her marriage to Gerda was void as same sex marriage was not legal in Denmark until 2012. She was proposed to by a childhood friend after this, and planned to have a final operation- a uterus transplant and artificial vagina construction, which she hoped would allow her to become pregnant. Some accounts offer the idea that Elbe was intersex and already had ovaries that were not quite formed.
Elbe died shortly after her 4th and final operation at the age of 48.
1893- Violette Morris
Morris was brought up in a convent. She was known to be bisexual (some cases claim she was out as a lesbian) and married a male in 1914; a marriage that lasted 9 years. She was one of the first great female athletes, competing in shotput, discus, boxing, football and motor racing to name but a few, and often competed against men. She was known for the saying 'ce qu'un homme fait, Violette peut le faire' which means 'anything a man can do, Violette can do'.
In addition to her athleticism, which was characteristically unfeminine for the time, she was also a heavy smoker- something else that was considered masculine. It has also been claimed that she had a double mastectomy to be able to fit into race cars better. Because of all of this, and the fact she was an out lesbian (/bisexual), the French media were always against her and was kicked from a number of sports teams.
In the Depression of the 30s, Morris ended up getting into the black market and turned into a bit of a thug. She was spotted and initiated into the French Gestapo, being invited by Hitler personally to the Berlin Olympics. She later gained the nickname 'the Gestapo's Hyena' because of her reputation for being a brutal torturer.
1914- Billy Tipton
Tipton, born Dorothy Lucille Tipton, tried for a number of years to get into the jazz industry that was very much male dominated. He started binding his chest and trying to pass as male; which worked and he gained more and more fame. He lived most of his life as a male and many were shocked when he was revealed to be a woman on his deathbed; her band members and even her previous wives had no idea! It is unclear whether Tipton was transgender or a lesbian, or just lived his life as a man to get ahead in the industry.
1915- Michael Dillon
Born Laura Maud Dillon, he was rejected by his father shortly after his birth when his mother died. He was brought up by her aunties with her brother, and attended St Anne's College in Oxford. Through puberty, he grew facial hair and developed a deep voice. After working in a garage for some years, he was prescribed testosterone hormone pills and had a double mastectomy at the age of 27. Two years later, he legally changed his birth certificate to male. His brother also rejected him at this point.
Dillon was the first known case of a FtM sex change (surgically), and is also thought to be the first woman to be given hormone pills to transition. After transitioning, he studied at medical school and ended up travelling as a ship's doctor.
He lived out the last of his life in a Buddhist monastery in Bengal.
1918- Roberta Cowell
Her birth name was Robert Marshall Cowell, and was one of three children. Growing up, her hobbies included motor sport, photography and film making. After leaving school, she went on to work as a Pilot with the RAF, but was discharged because of airsickness.
In 1936 she started studying engineering at UCL, eventually starting motor racing too.
She served as both Second Lieutenant and Pilot Officer in WW2, and got married to a woman in 1941. This marriage lasted just 8 years.
By the age of 32, she was taking oestrogen but still identifying as male. After meeting Michael Dillon, had an inguinal orchiectomy (the removal of the testicles). She was legally declared as intersex after this, and had her birth certificate changed to female. In 1951 she had a second operation; a vaginoplasty. This was performed by Harold Gilles, who was the surgeon who carried out Michael Dillon's surgeries. Cowell was the first male to have this kind of procedure in the UK.
1955- Ken Russell's Teddy Girls
'Teddy Girls' were a subculture of British teens in the 50s that took to dressing like 'teddy boys'. This included smart-looking Edwardian suits paired with American Rock 'n' Roll 'greaser' hair'. Teddy boys quickly gained a bad rep with the media, the kind of working class kids that would hang around and cause trouble.
1960- Grayson Perry
Perry is a well known potter, documentary presenter and transvestite. He grew up with his mother, her boyfriend and three siblings. He discovered his love for transvestism when he was just a teenager, developing an alter-ego who goes by the name of Claire. Growing up, he was very confused about the conflict in masculinity and femininity in him- he has said he knew he wasn't gay, nor transgender, so growing up with this kind of thing not talked about was a very confusing time. When his sister read his diary and told the rest of his family (who didn't react well), he suppressed the habits until he went to university.
Claire, at first, had a pretty boring style. Perry talks about the transition into more crazy outfits and says that passing for a woman in public wasn't very rewarding and that he envied transvestites who had the confidence to pull off more out-there stuff. This was how Claire ended up the Little Bo Peep style character we know today.
1967- Sexual Offences Act
This decriminalised sexual relationships between men over the age of 21.
1969- Stonewall Riots
Around this time, homosexuality in New York was illegal in public, so police started targeting private gay clubs. On 28th June, 1969, the police raided the Stonewall Inn- a gay club in Greenwich Village. Though the raid was completely valid (the club was selling alcohol without the necessary license), when LGBT civilians started being arrested, many others started protesting. This kick started days of riots all over the city and started the LGBT rights movement in America. This, in turn, influenced the start of groups like the Gay Liberation Front in England.
1971- Nullity of Marriage Act
This law prevented same sex marriage which included transgender, transsexual and intersex individuals because in the year before, a law had been passed to prohibit the legal changing of gender on birth certificates.
1972- The first Gay Pride march happened in London.
1984- Laverne Cox
Born male in Alabama, Cox grew up with her mother and twin brother, and knew from a very young age that she was transgender. She studied at Alabama School or Fine Arts, Indiana University and Marymount Manhattan College. She had always loved the arts, dance in particular.
She was the first transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy for her role in Orange is the New Black, and is a very public trans rights activist.
1988- Section 28
This bill banned schools from 'promoting homosexuality' in their teachings, or even teaching that it was acceptable. This caused a lot of LGBT support to close due to fears of prosecution.
2003- Section 28 repeal
2004- Gender Recognition Act, Civil Partnership Act
The Civil Partnership Act gave same-sex couples an alternative to marriage with all the same rights.
The Gender Recognition Act allows transgender, transsexual and intersex people to change their gender to male or female legally, which gave them all the appropriate rights of that gender (e.g marriage).
2014- Same sex marriage becomes legal.
The Gender Recognition Act allows transgender, transsexual and intersex people to change their gender to male or female legally, which gave them all the appropriate rights of that gender (e.g marriage).
2014- Same sex marriage becomes legal.
