Transgender Warriors

Noted American abolitionist Frederick Douglass has had a major impact on Feinberg’s life. Douglass was a steadfast ally to the women’s rights movement at a time when few men were, demonstrating the importance of inter-community solidarity. Transgender people should stand with other oppressed groups to build “solidarity and trust that will forge an invincible movement against all forms of injustice and inequality” (91-92). Similarly, people who are not transgender have a stake in defending trans rights, as all liberation is connected. The lesbian, gay, and bisexual rights movement, for example, is intricately connected with the trans rights movement. The shared histories of these groups have made all LGBT people natural allies. 

In the 19th century, German sexologist Magnus Hirschfield published groundbreaking research asserting that sex, gender expression, and sexuality were all different things. Hirschfield concluded that “not all lesbian women and gay men are transgendered and not all transgendered people are lesbian or gay” (95). His work pushed back against the persecution of gay and trans people by describing gay and trans identities as inherent, unchangeable facts about an individual. When the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, it undid years of progress for gay and trans rights.