Lou Sullivan

Published in 1985 and authored by L. Sullivan, “Information for the Female-to-Male Crossdresser and Transsexual” is a handbook that provides general advice for those who identify along the female-to-male spectrum. Sullivan explains how one’s body might react to hormone therapy and also provides tips for “passing” as a man, such as how to dress more masculine. Additionally, Sullivan includes an extensive list of historical and fictional female-to-male crossdressers and transsexuals.

Drawn from Lou Sullivan’s meticulously kept journals, this landmark book records the life of arguably the first publicly gay trans man to medically transition. We Both Laughed In Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan narrates the inner life of a gay trans man moving through the shifting social, political, and medical mores of the second half of the 20th century. Sullivan kept comprehensive journals from age eleven until his AIDS-related death at thirty-nine. Sensual, lascivious, challenging, quotidian and poetic, the diaries complicate and disrupt normative trans narratives. Entries from twenty-four diaries reveal Sullivan’s self-articulation and the complexity of a fascinating and courageous figure.

A book written by Lou Sullivan detailing the life of Jack Bee Garland. The book excerpts numerous historical sources and reproduces a number of images. —Digital Transgender Archive