Monthly Archives: February 2018

Book Reviews – Myra Breckinridge and Myron

I’ve posted a detailed summary and review of two works by Gore Vidal from more than 40 years ago: Myra Breckinridge (1968) and its sequel, Myron (1974). Transgender historians may be interested in reading my reviews, but to summarize for anyone who is not that interested, both books are transphobic, exploitive, ignorant, and sometimes disgusting pieces of crap that should be gathered together in one place and sunk to the bottom of the Challenger Deep. The only purpose served by the books is as a warning of how even highly educated progressives can be giant tools when it comes to trying to give us the basic human right of dignity, let alone trying to understand us.

Sir Lady Java, Transgender Woman of Color

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I’ve added a little bit of new history to Transas City this last week. A new page featuring transgender pioneer Sir Lady Java has been posted, and the first four scans on the page are from my private collection of transgender history (as always, please copy/steal the scans I make of my historical items, so everyone can keep our history safe).

Sir Lady Java has had many roles in our transgender history, and she is remembered as being an openly transgender exotic dancer, comedian, singer, actress, and civil rights activist. She is likely most famous for fighting Los Angeles’ anti-crossdressing law, known as “Rule No. 9,” which for decades was used by the police to harass, intimidate, and imprison transgender and crossdressing persons.

Please take a minute to view a few of the images I have collected, and read a little about her history.

Sir Lady Java

Joanna Clark: Warrior Woman

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We’ve added a new page on Transas City to highlight a very small part of the history and accomplishments of Joanna Clark, who we interviewed on Trans Talk in November 2017. Ms. Clark is in some ways the founder of the current fight for transgender military service, and she was a major activist in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the 1990’s.

On her page you can listen to a 1-hour interview we had with Ms. Clark, see a couple of old photographs of her (including a high-resolution scan of one I bought recently), and read a newspaper article from 1977 about her fight for recognition and equality.

New Collection Added to Transas City – Female Mimics International

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Female Mimics International magazine was a later evolution than Female Mimics magazine, and as such (at least among the issues from the 1980’s that are hosted here), it focuses on drag and crossdressing culture, with some transgender-focused topics. These magazines have a much more prurient and exploitative bent than earlier magazines. Nonetheless, the magazine is quite interesting for its coverage of crossdressing-related events of the 1980’s, which often were a refuge for the transgender community at the time, as well as the larger LGB community.

I have 53 issues of the magazine featured on this page. Please note before clicking, some of the covers (not to mention the interiors of the magazines) are not work-safe.