Transgender Archives

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Virginia Prince. Circa 1954

Virginia Prince. Circa 1954

Virginia Prince was one of the earliest transgender activists.

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Transgender Archives

The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria is committed to the preservation of the history of pioneering activists, community leaders, and researchers who have contributed to the betterment of trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit people.

Since 2007, we have been actively acquiring documents, rare publications, and memorabilia of persons and organizations associated with activism by and for trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit people.

We began with the generous donation of the Rikki Swin Institute collection. The Transgender Archives have been enhanced by other significant donations including the personal papers of Reed Erickson, the entire University of Ulster Trans-Gender Archive collection, and the records of Zenith Foundation of Vancouver Canada, among many others.

Our records span over 160 meters or 530 linear feet (1.5 football fields long), go back over 120 years, and are in 15 languages from 23 countries on six continents. Our collections comprise the largest trans archives in the world.  We are accessible to everyone, free of charge.

Featured material

Lammy award

In The Transgender Archives: Foundations for the Future you can read about some of the history of trans activism and research, learn about how the Transgender Archives got started, and see a few highlights from our collections.

The Transgender Archives: Foundations for the Future was chosen as a 2015 Lambda Literary Awards finalist in LGBT nonfiction.

The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria is accessible to the public for free, and available to faculty, students, and scholars for teaching and research.

Learn more about using the archives.

Connect with us

Chair in Transgender Studies & The Transgender Archives at UVic

Chair in Transgender Studies & The Transgender Archives at UVic

5 days ago

Check out this great mom who did a social media celebration of her trans son's coming out. There's also a nice video about gender terms that you might want to share with friends and family.

Mom celebrates son coming out as trans...
A mother from Kentucky is honoring her son's bravery to come out as transgender with an "it's a boy" themed photo session for his 20th birthday.
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Dan Wei - Scholar in Residence
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair Dan Wei Scholar in Residence from Nanchang University, China Dan Wei, PhD, lecturer at Nanchang University in China, is a visiting scholar funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council. She is interested in gender inequality and transgender issues in China. She is doing research on cross-gender performance in Chinese theater and transgender history, politics, and activism in China.
Dan Wei - Visiting Speaker
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair Dan Wei Scholar in Residence from Nanchang University, China Cross-gender Performance & Transgender Issues in China Free Public Talk (bring your lunch) Wednesday, February 6th, 2019 12:00 - 1:30 PM UVic Cornett A317 Accessibility information Dan Wei, PhD, lecturer at Nanchang University in China, is a visiting scholar funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council. She is interested in gender inequality and transgender issues in China. She is doing research on cross-gender performance in Chinese theater and transgender history, politics, and activism in China. China has a rich tradition of theater, dating back well over one thousand years, and cross-gender performance plays a significant role in Chinese opera. Male-to-female performance in Beijing Opera and female-to-male performance in Yue Opera have been important in the development of Chinese opera. They have provided a key location over centuries of Chinese history where gender boundaries were fluid. Compared to LGBTQ activism in Western countries, transgender activism is going through a revolution in modern China. Movement on legal issues, subtle changes in government attitudes, and empowerment through social media by younger LGBTQ groups, scholars, and doctors have been making change step by step in China, although there is still a long way to go.
Sophie Labelle - Visiting Speaker
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair Sophie Labelle Visiting Speaker Cartoonist behind "Assigned Male" "An Evening with Sophie Labelle: Trans Cartoonist & Author" By donation public talk Monday, January 21st, 2019 7:00 PM UVic McPherson Library A308 (3rd Floor) Digital Scholarship Commons Sophie Labelle is an internationally renowned visual artist and author from the South shore of Montréal. She is the transgender cartoonist behind Assigned Male, a webcomic about a group of queer and trans teenagers that has been running since 2014 and already touched millions of readers. She talks about her experience growing up transgender, her work as a cartoonist and cyberbullying.
Julian Gill-Peterson - Fellowship Recipient
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair Julian Gill-Peterson Chair in Transgender Studies Fellowship Recipient University of Pittsburgh Julian Gill-Peterson is Assistant Professor of English and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. They are the author of Histories of the Transgender Child (University of Minnesota Press, October 2018). I am visiting the Transgender Archives to research my current book project, Gender Underground: A History of Trans DIY, which sets out to retell the story of the trans twentieth century by framing it not through institutional medicine, but the myriad do-it-yourself practices of trans people that forged powerful and long-invisible social worlds.

See more videos from the Master Playlist playlist on YouTube.

Rikki Swin

See more from the Transgender Archives on Flickr.

Transgender Archives Visitors

Susan Stryker - Transgender Archives Visitor
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair Susan Stryker is an award-winning scholar and filmmaker whose historical research, theoretical writing, and creative works have helped shape the cultural conversation on transgender topics since the early 1990s. Dr. Stryker earned her Ph.D. in United States History at the University of California-Berkeley in 1992, later held a Ford Foundation/Social Science Research Council post-doctoral fellowship in sexuality studies at Stanford University, and has been a distinguished visiting faculty member at Harvard University, Macquarie University in Sydney, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, and the University of California-Santa Cruz. She is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of numerous books and anthologies, including Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area (Chronicle 1996), Queer Pulp: Perverse Passions in the Golden Age of the Paperback (Chronicle 2000), The Transgender Studies Reader (Routledge 2006), Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution (Seal Press 2008, 2017), and The Transgender Studies Reader 2 (2013). Her academic articles have appeared in such publications as GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Radical History Review, South Atlantic Quarterly, Parallax, Australian Feminist Studies, Social Semiotics, and Journal of Women’s History, while her public scholarship has appeared in Aperture, Wired, The Utne Reader, and Slate.com. She won an Emmy Award for her documentary film Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (ITVS 2005), and is also the recipient of a Lambda Literary Award (2006), the Ruth Benedict Book Prize (2013), the Monette-Horowitz Prize for LGBTQ activism (2008), the Transgender Law Center’s Community Vanguard Award (2003), and two career achievement awards in LGBTQ Studies—the David Kessler Award in from the City University of New York’s Center for LGBT Studies in 2008, and the Yale University’s Brudner Memorial Prize in 2015. Dr. Stryker served for several years as Executive Director of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco (1999-2003), and for five years as Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona (2011-2016), where she is Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and coordinator of the university’s Transgender Studies Initiative. In addition to serving as founding co-editor of the academic journal TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, she is currently developing several media projects, and has a book under contract to Farrar Straus Giroux, What Transpires Now, about the uses of transgender history for the present.

See more videos from the Transgender Archives Visitors playlist on YouTube.

Scholars & Fellows

Julian Gill-Peterson - Fellowship Recipient
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair Julian Gill-Peterson Chair in Transgender Studies Fellowship Recipient University of Pittsburgh Julian Gill-Peterson is Assistant Professor of English and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. They are the author of Histories of the Transgender Child (University of Minnesota Press, October 2018). I am visiting the Transgender Archives to research my current book project, Gender Underground: A History of Trans DIY, which sets out to retell the story of the trans twentieth century by framing it not through institutional medicine, but the myriad do-it-yourself practices of trans people that forged powerful and long-invisible social worlds.
Charles Ledbetter - 2018 Fellowship Recipient
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair CHARLES LEDBETTER Fellowship Recipient - University of Tübingen, Germany BIOGRAPHY: Charles Ledbetter is a writer, activist and PhD candidate at the University of Tübingen in Germany. A graduate of the Orange County foster care system, Charles received a BA in English Literature from UCLA and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge. Their doctoral dissertation analyzes the intersection of trans and posthuman themes in contemporary speculative fiction. This fellowship at the University of Victoria’s Transgender Archive grants them the opportunity to study texts written by trans folks for trans folks and the liberatory imaginaries therein.

See more videos from the Scholars & Fellows playlist on YouTube.

Speakers

Dan Wei - Visiting Speaker
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair Dan Wei Scholar in Residence from Nanchang University, China Cross-gender Performance & Transgender Issues in China Free Public Talk (bring your lunch) Wednesday, February 6th, 2019 12:00 - 1:30 PM UVic Cornett A317 Accessibility information Dan Wei, PhD, lecturer at Nanchang University in China, is a visiting scholar funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council. She is interested in gender inequality and transgender issues in China. She is doing research on cross-gender performance in Chinese theater and transgender history, politics, and activism in China. China has a rich tradition of theater, dating back well over one thousand years, and cross-gender performance plays a significant role in Chinese opera. Male-to-female performance in Beijing Opera and female-to-male performance in Yue Opera have been important in the development of Chinese opera. They have provided a key location over centuries of Chinese history where gender boundaries were fluid. Compared to LGBTQ activism in Western countries, transgender activism is going through a revolution in modern China. Movement on legal issues, subtle changes in government attitudes, and empowerment through social media by younger LGBTQ groups, scholars, and doctors have been making change step by step in China, although there is still a long way to go.
Sophie Labelle - Visiting Speaker
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair Sophie Labelle Visiting Speaker Cartoonist behind "Assigned Male" "An Evening with Sophie Labelle: Trans Cartoonist & Author" By donation public talk Monday, January 21st, 2019 7:00 PM UVic McPherson Library A308 (3rd Floor) Digital Scholarship Commons Sophie Labelle is an internationally renowned visual artist and author from the South shore of Montréal. She is the transgender cartoonist behind Assigned Male, a webcomic about a group of queer and trans teenagers that has been running since 2014 and already touched millions of readers. She talks about her experience growing up transgender, her work as a cartoonist and cyberbullying.
Julian Gill-Peterson - Visiting Speaker
CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair Julian Gill-Peterson Chair in Transgender Studies Fellowship Recipient University of Pittsburgh “Against Transsexuality: Spirituality as Trans Feminine Practice in 1950s California” Free public talk Tue. Jan. 22nd, 2019 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (Q&A included) UVic McPherson Library 025 (lower level) Julian Gill-Peterson is Assistant Professor of English and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. They are the author of Histories of the Transgender Child (University of Minnesota Press, October 2018). I am visiting the Transgender Archives to research my current book project, Gender Underground: A History of Trans DIY, which sets out to retell the story of the trans twentieth century by framing it not through institutional medicine, but the myriad do-it-yourself practices of trans people that forged powerful and long-invisible social worlds. Beginning in the 1950s, when most doctors would not provide the medical care requested by trans people, I explore a rich underground tradition that found inventive access to hormones, alternate routes to surgery, and many creative, non-medical forms of care for the self and others, including spiritual practices. DIY is not just the object of the book, but a method of responsible and politically engaged scholarship. Visiting the Transgender Archives at UVic is an unmatched chance for me to build, share, and learn from a “DIY trans studies” that affirms the survival and creative world-making of the least visible and enfranchised in our communities: low income, trans of color, and two sprit communities.

See more videos from the Speakers playlist on YouTube.

Moving Trans History Forward 2018

MTHF18 Youth Panel
MOVING TRANS HISTORY FORWARD 2018 CONFERENCE WEBSITE: https://www.uvic.ca/mthf2018/ CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair YOUTH PANEL The Moving Trans History Forward conference is proud to present “The Youth Panel" featuring a panel of trans youth speaking about their experiences as local activists in their schools and communities. Sponsored by Vancity. WHEN: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM, Saturday, March 24th, 2018 WHERE: B150 - Bob Wright Centre HOW MUCH: FREE for all conference registrants. Open to the public by donation. Jocelyn Baker Jocelyn Baker co-leads the Pride Alliance at St Michaels University School in Victoria (SMUS), a club that advocates for transgender rights and supports LGBTQ individuals in SMUS and in the local community. She has worked to create more inclusive facilities for transgender students at her school such as adopting non-gender-specific uniforms and creating more gender-neutral bathrooms. Jocelyn has educated SMUS on the rights of transgender students and helped faculty understand how to include them. She also founded SMUS' Debate Workshops, which teach students civil discourse skills, fostering open-mindedness and discussion. In her free time, Jocelyn enjoys reading and hiking Mount Douglas. Danny Charles My name is Danny. I am a female to male transgender. Pronouns are he/him. I love to sing, paint, and write! Jay Jay is a Canadian transgender teenager. He started his transition over 5 years ago and during that time has sat on panels geared towards the LGBTQ+ community, in Canada and the USA. Tru Wilson Tru Wilson is an articulate and bold fourteen-year-old transgender advocate from Vancouver, BC. Tru first made headlines when she filed a human rights complaint against her local Catholic school board for not supporting her transition, which resulted in the first known policy in any Catholic school in North America supporting a child's transition. Since then, Tru has become a proud and voracious speaker for trans rights, and in 2015 was recognized by Vancouver Magazine as one of the city's 50 most powerful and influential people. In 2016, she was named Options for Sexual Health’s Sexual Health Champion, and in 2017 her entire family was nominated to be grand marshals is the Vancouver Pride Parade. Tru was also chosen to be a speaker at Vancouver’s 2017 TedX East Van event. Tru continues to share her story to educate and inspire others. Still a growing teen, Tru enjoys cosplay, drawing for hours and playing with her girlfriends next door.
MTHF18 Elders Panel
MOVING TRANS HISTORY FORWARD 2018 CONFERENCE WEBSITE: https://www.uvic.ca/mthf2018/ CHAIR IN TRANSGENDER STUDIES: https://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/index.php TRANSGENDER ARCHIVES: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ DONATE: https://extrweb.uvic.ca/donate-online/transchair “The Elders Panel" features a panel of trans elders providing live first-hand oral testimony about their experiences as elders of trans activism. WHEN: 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM, Sunday, March 25th, 2018 WHERE: B150 - Bob Wright Centre HOW MUCH: FREE for all conference registrants. Open to the public by donation. WHO: Christine Burns: “Rescuing Trans History” Miqqi Alicia Gilbert: “One Week A Year: The Pragmatic Reality of Self-Actualization” Aidan Key: “A Gender Odyssey: Aidan Key’s Journey to Leadership, Education & Activism” Maria Sundin: “Ending Forced Sterilization in Sweden” CHRISTINE BURNS "Rescuing Trans Histories" Christine was a key part of Britain’s ‘Press for Change’ campaign for transgender rights from 1993 until 2007, becoming one of the vice-presidents in 1996. This means that she was involved throughout the years when the organisation was at its peak and had a key role in many of the groundbreaking successes which occurred, culminating in the passage of the UK's Gender Recognition Act in 2004. She has written several books, including a two-part history of the PFC campaign, Pressing Matters. She also penned the first National Health Service policy guide relating to trans patients and staff. She is now editing an anthology-based history of Britain’s trans community. Christine lives in Manchester, England, officially retired in 2013, and concentrates most of her time doting on her grandchildren, researching her family’s ancestry, reading detective fiction, gardening and riding her bike. MIQQI ALICIA GILBERT "One Week a Year: The Pragmatic Reality of Self-Actualization" Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, Ph.D. aka Michael A. Gilbert, is Full Professor of Philosophy at York University, Toronto, Canada. Miqqi Alicia has published scholarly articles in gender theory including an essay in Hypatia in 2009, “Defeating Bigenderism.” S/he is a life-long cross-dresser and an activist in the transgender community. Miqqi Alicia has made a point of being out and public and has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines in Canada and the US, as well as interviews on radio and television. S/he has been the book review editor and regular columnist for Transgender Tapestry, a recipient in 2007 of an IFGE Trinity Award, and Director of Fantasia Fair for 8 years. S/he has presented workshops at numerous trans events including Fantasia Fair, Southern Comfort, Esprit, IFGE and First Event. Hir website is located at: http://gilbert.info.yorku.ca/. Hir newest book, Arguing with People, was published by Broadview Press in the spring of 2014. AIDAN KEY "A Gender Odyssey: Aidan Key’s Journey to Leadership, Education & Activism" Aidan Key is the founder of Gender Diversity, an organization dedicated to providing support and educational services with respect to the inclusion of transgender and gender-diverse children. Key has served as a consultant to dozens of school districts across the United States navigating the questions and concerns regarding transgender K-12 student inclusion. Key is the co-author of Gender Cognition in Transgender Children (Psychological Science 2015), the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves (Oxford University Press, 2014) and Transgender Student Advocacy and Support: Evolving Ethics in a Time of Devolving Policy (presented 2017: Philosophy of Education Society Annual Conference). He facilitates the nation’s largest network of parent support groups and offers trainings and policy development for schools, organizations, and other youth-based agencies across the nation. MARIA SUNDIN "Ending Forced Sterilization in Sweden" Maria Sundin is a senior Swedish trans activist, sexologist and clinical social worker. She has been involved in trans as well as LGBT organizations for the past 25 years. She is a member of the Innovative Response to Global Trans Women and HIV (IRGT). She also serves on the Steering Committee of The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) and is a Board Member of Sweden's LGBTQ Social Democrats. Maria served for a long period as a Board Member of the Swedish Federation for LGBTQ Rights (RFSL) as well as a Co-chair and Executive Board Member of Transgender Europe (TGEU). She is also extensively involved in trans de-pathologisation, transgender human rights and combatting HIV in our community Stephen Whittle was previously scheduled but is no longer able to attend.

See more videos from the Moving Trans History Forward 2018 playlist on YouTube.

Moving Trans History Forward 2016

Opening Ceremony: Moving Trans History Forward 2016
Moving Trans History Forward: Building Communities - Sharing Connections conference took place at the University of Victoria March 17-20, 2016. Trans and gender non-conforming (GNC) community-based scholars and activists, academics, archivists, librarians, family members, and allies of trans and GNC people will explore preserving and recounting the history of trans and GNC people and communities in all eras and regions of the world. Opening Ceremony: Madison Thomas: Transperson from the Esquimalt Nation Shelagh Rogers: Chancellor, University of Victoria Aaron Devor: Chair in Transgender Studies, Founder and Academic Director, The Transgender Archives Randall Garrison: Member of Parliament, Esquimalt — Saanich — Sooke Twitter: @TransArchives Facebook: UVicTransArchives Instagram: TransArchives YouTube: Transgender Archives Flickr: Transgender Archives @ UVic Sponsored by the Chair in Transgender Studies & The Transgender Archives and UVic. Video production & editing provided by Anna Malkin -- thank you!
Martine Rothblatt: Moving Trans History Forward 2016 Keynote
Moving Trans History Forward: Building Communities - Sharing Connections conference took place at the University of Victoria March 17-20, 2016. Events included: inspiring keynote speakers Martine Rothblatt and Jamison Green, oral presentations, posters, workshops, art exhibits, feature-length trans-themed film Two4One, and panel discussion with founders of trans activism and research. Martine Rothblatt Co-CEO United Therapeutics Keynote speaker Martine Rothblatt, PhD, Co-CEO of United Therapeutics, delivered a virtual keynote address based on her books From Transgender to Transhuman and Virtually Human and Virtually Human: The Promise—and the Peril—of Digital Immortality in which she lays out her vision for a future in which gender dimorphism becomes obsolete, human bodies become optional, and human consciousness has the potential to become immortal through advancements in artificial intelligence. The title of her talk is "From Transgender to Transhuman to Virtually Human." Rothblatt is a tremendously innovative and accomplished trans woman who has a stellar record of creating new advances that have enhanced the lives of people around the globe. She created Geostar satellite navigation, Sirius satellite radio, and United Therapeutics, which saves the lives of lung-disease sufferers and is working to create a limitless supply of organs for transplants. Introduction: Dr. Aaron Devor, Chair in Transgender Studies, Founder and Academic Director, The Transgender Archives Moving Trans History Forward: http://www.uvic.ca/mthf2016/index.php The Transgender Archives: http://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/ Chair in Transgender Studies: http://www.uvic.ca/research/transchair/
Jamison Green: Moving Trans History Forward 2016 - Keynote
Moving Trans History Forward: Building Communities - Sharing Connections conference took place at the University of Victoria March 17-20, 2016. Trans and gender non-conforming (GNC) community-based scholars and activists, academics, archivists, librarians, family members, and allies of trans and GNC people will explore preserving and recounting the history of trans and GNC people and communities in all eras and regions of the world. Keynote Speaker Jamison Green, President of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) speaks on Triumphs and Challenges for Transgender People around the World. Green is internationally known as a leader in transgender health, policy, law, and education. Author of the prize-winning book Becoming a Visible Man, he led FTM International 1991 to 1999. He has served on Boards of numerous trans* organizations and has appeared in over a dozen educational documentary films. His policy work has impacted governments and businesses throughout the world. He is one of the most widely-recognized trans* men in the world today. Twitter: @TransArchives Facebook: UVicTransArchives Instagram: TransArchives YouTube: Transgender Archives Flickr: Transgender Archives @ UVic Sponsored by the Chair in Transgender Studies & The Transgender Archives and UVic. Video production & editing provided by Anna Malkin -- thank you!

See more videos from the Moving Trans History Forward 2016 playlist on YouTube.

Moving Trans History Forward 2014

See more videos from the Moving Trans* History Forward 2014 playlist on YouTube.