TL;DR: Knowledge of our past is fundamental for our liberation. It’s the way we shut down the pernicious lie that we’re a modern invention. It’s time to collect, platform and share our rich history, which is as long as all of human life. That’s why I’m establishing Trans+ History Week 6–12 May 2024.
We live in an age of argument and division.
Misinformation is the weapon used in confected ‘culture wars.’ These battles are not designed to be won or lost – but to distract us from what’s truly important.
They say “all this gender stuff can't be true because it’s new”. Yet the idea that we’re a modern invention erases our past and suggests that we don’t belong in the present.
We have a history. Our history is as old as time. It’s as rich, magnificent and long as the history of all human life. The problem is that we’ve been denied space and materials to learn it.
Much of it has been improperly contextualised, remained undocumented or been destroyed. All in an attempt to erase us.
With institutions like Queer Britain, the Bishopsgate Institute, the Wellcome Collection and the Museum of Transology, the community is beginning to gather and archive our history.
And as incredible Trans+ creatives have shown us by telling these stories, there’s a huge audience ready to hear them – both cis and trans+.
Our joyful history should take us forward
A large part of the documented and shared history does centre on our trauma, persecution and our fight for liberation.
That undoubtedly has a place and a value. It’s important that we know of and remember our significant figures and learn of their full lives. People like Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera – and the many other Trans+ people who led our modern civil rights movement.
We must also understand the horrors in our history, to recognise that our community has endured precarious living conditions and political disenfranchisement throughout the centuries.
We need to educate ourselves on the devastating impact that colonialism had on the erasure of gender-nonconforming cultures – by enforcing a binary Western view of gender.
We also have to explore our joy: the communities we’ve created, the relationships and loves.
The thriving community 100 years ago of the Eldorado club in the Weimar Republic. The communities formed by the Hijra people of South Asia with a history spanning at least 4,000 years. The Pharaohs, warriors, spiritual leaders and gods among us.
And yes, drag kings and queens. There’s joy throughout history.
So that’s what we’re going to do.
Guided by the entire and expansive Trans+ community, we want to give ourselves a dedicated space in the calendar to build on, and platform the stories of Trans+ history makers, content creators and archivists.
Telling our history is a radical act
The future doesn’t always guarantee progress, even as time moves forward. That’s why the time to do this has never been more urgent.
Anti-trans sentiment is on the rise across the UK. In our media. In our politics. In our communities. Authentic and positive Trans+ representation in the media is under attack - if visible at all. Hate crimes continue to rise as a result.
Trans+ dog whistles spread easily, cynically used by our politicians and amplified by our media - tapping into society's worst instincts. They are thriving because there’s a gap in our nation’s education.
Our history didn’t start in the 80s, but Section 28 did deny us our history because weak politicians were determined to keep it from us. My entire schooling took place under a secret silencing that choked my sense of self and attempted to shame me.
Part of the inspiration for creating this week was learning this year that one of the most famous Nazi book burnings was held outside the world’s first transgender clinic.
Days before, on May 06 1933, the clinic was raided and became the site of one of the first, and perhaps the largest book burning. The Nazis committed what they called “the intellectual garbage of the past” to the flames.
Though the clinic itself has a complex history, and many of its core ideas are no longer widely accepted, they had a significant influence on the evolution of LGBTQIA+ politics. The collection that was lost was irreplaceable.
Everyone sees that picture in school. I saw it in 1999. But we were denied its full story.
Indeed, Section 28 denied many of us a chance to learn about ourselves. It cast the entire community in shadow and framed our existence as taboo. It denied us the chance to know ourselves.
This month marks 20 years since its repeal and inclusive history lessons are still not guaranteed. Meanwhile, because of “culture wars” many who work in education feel like Section 28 is back by stealth.
That’s why we need this week – we need the Trans+ history lesson we never had. Knowledge of our past is absolutely fundamental for our future liberation. And that’s why it will be held before Pride month. It makes sure that the march for our future starts in our past.
We talk about making sure we don't forget the horrors of history. But how can we when we were never afforded the luxury to learn our history in the first place? Let’s tell our stories. Let’s remember our history.
Let’s give ourselves the space to learn, share, reflect on, and celebrate Trans+ history.
Jamie Wareham
📆 Add Trans+ History Week to your calendar
- Trans+ History Day 06 May
- Trans+ History Week 06 - 12 May
Apple • Google • Office 365 • Outlook Web • Outlook • Yahoo
Trans+ History Week is a week-long reflective period to learn and celebrate the momentous and millennia-old history of transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse and Intersex people.
It will begin on May 06 2024. The 91st anniversary of the Nazi raid on the world’s first trans clinic - the week they tried to erase us, is the week we will be remembered. It is a social enterprise to ensure its activity benefits the community and a QueerAF Launchpad project.
We are a space for Trans+ people, by Trans+ people. For all of our history.
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