It has been a lot of fun for me to read the online EBONY and JET magazines and be pleasantly surprised at just how well gender issues were covered by our iconic magazines back in the day.While perusing the digital copy of the May 1983 issue of EBONY, I ran across an article written about pioneering African-American sex therapist Dr. June Dobbs Butts.
She had this to say about transgender people:
"It goes against the grain for a lot of Black people to think that there are Black men who want to undergo sex-change surgery. When they think of transsexuals, they usually think in terms of Christine Jorgensen and Renee Richards and other White persons who've been in the news.
"Many people don't know that the first such surgery that was done in the US was done at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and the patient was a Black man (Avon Wilson).
"I've had about 20 transsexuals come to me for counseling and I've had people ask me if I ever try to change their minds. When they come to me, they've already made their decision about that and are seeking help on how to adjust to their new life. They've gone too far to turn back. They've usually taken all the hormones, had the silicone implants, had electrolysis to remove facial and body hair, they've been cross dressing for years, they've been living as women, so there's very little possibility of changing their minds."
Did you check that out right-wing Christohaters, sell out negroes, and scientifically illiterate people? This is from a pioneering African-American sexologist.
It should be glaringly apparent to you by now that transition isn't just a 'white thang'. If you peruse the back issues of JET and EBONY stories about my transbrothers and transsisters and our intertwining interactions with our community are a recurring theme ever since JET began publishing in 1951. Both EBONY and JET routinely covered Chicago's Finnie's drag ball and similar events in New York and even wrote a story about in in the May 1952 Ebony issue. The point is that transpeople of African descent aren't just a recent phenomenon. The sooner you haters get it through your thick skulls, the better life will be for African descended transpeople so that we can begin to concentrate on using our skills, intelligence and talents to uplift and build our community.
Say it loud, I'm Black, trans and I'm proud.
Deal with it.
