User:LizzieB2327/Transgender history

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n the late 1950s and 1960s, modern transgender and gay activism began with the 1959 Cooper Donuts Riot in Los Angeles, 1966 Compton's Cafeteria riot in San Francisco, and a defining event in gay and transgender activism, the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York; prominent activists included Sylvia Rivera. In addition to riots and rally's, political groups were created to address issues faced by the community as another form of activism. This included Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Riviera's STAR organization-Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, who sought to house homeless queer youth.

The 1970s and 1980s saw organizations devoted to transgender social activities or activism come and go, including activist Lou Sullivan's FTM support group that grew into FTM International, the leading advocacy group for trans men.[158] Some feminist and lesbian organizations and individuals began to debate whether transgender women should be accepted into women's groups and events, such as the women's music collective Olivia Records where trans woman Sandy Stone had long been employed, or the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival which had a "women-born-women" in policy. Another example of this debate exist in the story of Beth Elliot, a transsexual lesbian. Elliot, as a hippie folk singer, was set to perform at the West Coast Lesbian Feminist Conference in 1973. Her presence was met with hostility by an old relationship partner who was now a member of the group Gutter Dykes Collective. This group was made up of lesbian separatist, who were against trans lesbians in their spaces. Elliot was accused of sexual harassments in an instance back in college, and a controversy was sparked about her presence in the conference, forcing Elliot to leave early. This controversy was the mark of the "transexual rapist", that began to appear in lesbian spaces, and is an early marker of feminist transphobia.