Lou Sullivan

Biography

Lou Sullivan was a groundbreaking activist and author who transformed the understanding of what it means to be a transgender man. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sullivan knew from a young age that he was a boy, and as a teenager, he also began to understand he was attracted to men.

When he began to seek medical transition in the 1970s, he was met with resistance from the medical community, which at the time believed that all transgender people must be heterosexual. Sullivan's insistence on his identity as a gay trans man challenged these assumptions and he fought to have them changed. His activism was instrumental in the eventual separation of gender identity and sexual orientation in medical and psychiatric standards.

In 1986, Sullivan founded FTM International, a support and advocacy organization for female-to-male transgender people that has provided community and resources for thousands. He was also a prolific diarist, and his journals, published posthumously, offer an invaluable and deeply personal account of his life and the broader history of the transgender community. Sullivan died from complications of AIDS in 1991, leaving behind a legacy of advocacy and empowerment.