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In 1966, as a 15-year-old Milwaukeean, Lou Sullivan, wrote, “I want to look like what I am but don't know what someone like me looks like.” The transgender activist would eventually leave Milwaukee in 1973 to settle in San Francisco. There, he pursued his life in a more understanding and embracing environment. During the 1980s, he founded FTM (Female-to-Male) International and was a founding member of the GLBT Historical Society. An author and lobbyist for trans gay men, he also has the unfortunate reputation of having been the first transman to die of AIDS. In the decades that followed, the struggle for transgender rights have come to the fore.
For its part, Milwaukee has played a significant role in the pursuit of transgender equality. Co-founded in 1994 by Michael Munson, FORGE, an organization with a mission to educate and provide resources to both the transgender and greater communities, has since garnered national recognition. In 2007, FORGE hosted the first FTM/SOFFA Conference held in the Midwest.
At the forefront of presenting transgender artists and musicians, the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center (MGAC) hosted the itinerant trans performance troupe Tranny Roadshow in 2006 and 2007. Underwritten by Cream City Foundation, artist and author Dylan Scholinski exhibited at MGAC in coordination with the FTM/SOFFA Conference and did a reading from his autobiography, The Last Time I Wore a Dress, at the Riverwest alternative book store, Woodland Pattern.
Great strides came about under the Obama administration. With the lifting of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, transgender soldiers and sailors could actively serve. FORGE-Milwaukee received significant Federal funding for its anti-violence and other programs. Transgender rights seemed to be not only improving but becoming universally recognized.
The election of a Republican president in 2016, however, brought about a shift in government attitude towards the LGBTQ community in general and especially its transgender members. LGBTQ references were scrubbed from the White House website. Despite opposition from high-ranking military leaders, a transgender service ban was introduced. Locally, Republican governor Scott Walker’s administration denied certain health benefits to transgender state employees. It took an ACLU lawsuit to rescind the Walker policy.
Hate Crimes
That victory, however, was overshadowed by a dire outlook for the future. Hate crimes, increased steeply since 2017, targeted the transgender populations worldwide. Forty-four transgender individuals were murdered in 2020 in the USA alone.
During the rally that served to launch the failed January 6 Republican coup d’état, Donald Trump Jr., son of the former president, revved up the crowd of MAGA insurrectionists by attacking transgender people, specifically transwomen.
Still, despite the pervading animus towards them, or perhaps because of it, some among the transgender population have become political leaders. In Milwaukee, as part of the People’s Revolution, a movement launched in response to racial inequality and the nation’s endemic racism, one transgender woman, Elle Halo, has been making her mark as a local civil rights personality. Her portrait now graces a mural celebrating local social justice activists.
Meanwhile, political fortunes for LGBTQ people and particularly those who are transgender have taken a positive turn. President Joe Biden has unequivocally stated, “I will put forward comprehensive solutions to help empower the transgender and gender non-conforming community and prioritize the prosecution of anti-transgender violence. My administration will enact the Equality Act to end legal discrimination against LGBTQ people, expand economic opportunities for LGBTQ people, reform our treatment of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals in our criminal justice system, ensure access to accurate identification documents, and improve government data collection to better track violence against the transgender community.”
We can all hope President Biden’s vision will be realized.
