Alienation and Alliances: Transgender Coalition-Building from the 1970s through the 1990s

Abstract

Coalition-building in the transgender movement has received scant attention from scholars in history or gender studies. In an effort to understand transactivists' motivations and how they worked with others, this thesis analyzes the partnerships formed within the transgender community and with potential allies of the lesbian, gay, and feminist communities. Using archival records, magazines and newspapers, published reports, and oral histories, this thesis argues that trans activism in the period between 1970 and the end of the 1990s was multifarious, fractious and inconsistent. It also demonstrates that trans activists worked to build coalitions with potential allies in the women's movement and the gay and lesbian rights movement whenever possible. Such coalitions held the promise of greater influence and of shared values. Because I have submitted three of my other chapters for publication at several journals, I am submitting the introduction and my second chapter for your consideration. This chapter focuses on transgender coalition-building within the transgender community and gives insight into the internal struggles of a nascent movement. The introduction will detail the focus of my thesis altogether and lay out key background information. The separated bibliography has all of the sources from my thesis, while the bibliography at the end of my research paper has the sources from only the chapters I am submitting.