Trans+ History Timeline

In this timeline, we’ve plotted some points in our history but they are by no means exhaustive – that’s quite simply impossible because much of our history has been improperly contextualised, undocumented or destroyed. All in an attempt to erase us.

Nor are these moments here because we deem them the most important. They are simply a collection of interwoven moments from across our deep trancestory. To know these moments, and to learn more about them is to know we’ve always been here and that we belong right here.

If you want to add items, please submit to us here.

3,000–5,000 BCE

Gala, priests of the goddess Inanna / Ishtar, were seen to have adopted feminine dress and names and sung in the temples in Emesal, the Sumerian dialect for female characters in literary works.

Circa 1479–1458 BCE

Hatshepsut, Pharaoh and female king of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, ruling first ruled as regent for Thutmose III, then as co-ruler and king alongside Thutmose III as queen regnant from circa 1479 BC until circa 1458 BC.

Circa 300 BCE–400 CE

The Galli, priests in the cult of Cybele, occupied a third-gender space in Roman society and spread as far as the British Isles.

218–222 CE

Roman emperor Elagabalus requested female ‘pronouns’ and to be addressed as Lady, flouting accepted gender roles.

Colonial Era

Many countries criminalised the gender identity and/or expression of trans+ people through laws targeting ‘cross-dressing’, ‘impersonation’ or ‘disguise laws’. Many still do.

1431

Joan of Arc was willing to die at the stake rather than stop wearing men’s clothing.

1777

Casimir Pulaski, the Polish nobleman and Revolutionary War hero who saved George Washington’s life, was intersex.

1933

Nazis seized the queer hub Eldorado club and repurpose it as a Sturmabteilung (SA) Headquarters. German police officers are standing in front of the former Eldorado club, which has been closed and plastered with Hitler campaign posters. Photo: 5 March 1933. Courtesy of Landesarchiv Berlin.

1933

Nazis raided the world’s first trans+ clinic, Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexual Research).

1946

Michael Dillon became the first transgender man to undergo phalloplasty across 13 surgeries.

1952

Christine Jorgensen became the first person widely publicised as undergoing sex reassignment surgery.

1960

Model April Ashley travelled to Morocco to undergo sex reassignment surgery.

1965

The term ‘transgender’ was coined by John Oliven.

1969

Riots outside the Stonewall Inn kickstarted the modern liberation movement.

1970

Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera founded the mutual aid organisation STAR in the wake of Stonewall.

1970

In a court case involving the trans+ model April Ashley, legal precedent was set preventing trans+ people from changing legal gender in the UK.

1972

Transvestite, Transsexual and Drag Queen group of the GLF was formed.

1975

Model Tracey Norman featured on the box for Clairol Nice ’n Easy, No 512, a shade of dark auburn.

1977

Renée Richards won legal case against the USTA to join the women’s tour and play the US Open.

1978

Gilbert Baker created the Rainbow Pride Flag.

1979

Wendy Carlos, a musician who won three Grammys and scored Stanley Kubrick and Disney films, disclosed that she had transitioned more than 10 years earlier.

1980

‘Transsexualism’ was entered into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) – the American Psychiatric Association’s ‘bible’

1981

Caroline Cossey (Tula) became the first trans+ Bond girl in For Your Eyes Only.

1988

Section 28 was introduced in the UK, prohibiting the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ in schools.

1991

Caroline Cossey became the first trans+ woman to pose in Playboy.

1998

Dana International was the first trans+ winner of Eurovision Song Contest.

1999

The Transgender Pride Flag was created by American trans+ woman Monica Helms.

1999

The Matrix, subsequently revealed to be a trans+ allegory, was written and directed by trans+ sisters Lana and Lily Wachowski and made $467.2 million USD at the box office.

2003

Section 28 was repealed in the UK.

2004

The first Trans March, consisting of only a few people, began in Dolores Park, San Francisco on 25 June 2004.

2004

Nadia Almada made history as the first trans+ woman to win Big Brother UK.

2004

First Gender Recognition Act gave trans+ people a way to change their legal gender.

2007

11-year-old trans+ girl Jazz Jennings was interviewed by Barbara Walters.

2012

Janet Mock established the #GirlsLikeUs Twitter hashtag campaign.

2013

The first Trans Pride outside of North America, Trans Pride Brighton and Hove, was founded.

2013

The Intersex Flag was created by Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia.

2013

Following activist campaigns, ‘gender dysphoria’ replaced transsexualism and other renditions in the DSM in 2013.

2014

The Non-Binary Flag was created by Kyle Rowan.

2015

Caitlyn Jenner publicly came out as a trans+ woman in April 2015.

2015

Sophie’s debut album ‘Product’ was made available for preorder.

2015

The Rajya Sabha unanimously passed the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill in India.

2019

Laverne Cox appeared as British Vogue’s first trans+ cover star.

2020

The Transgender Flag was added to Emoji 13.0.

2021

Valentino Vecchietti created the Intersex-Inclusive Pride Flag.

2022

M J Rodriguez became the first trans woman to win a Golden Globe.

2022

Dylan Mulvaney began a daily series of videos published on TikTok titled ‘Days of Girlhood’.

2023

Kim Petras was the first openly trans+ woman to win a Grammy.

2023

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law, opening the option of life imprisonment for convictions and the death penalty for ‘aggravated’ offences.

2023

Yasmin Finney appeared in BBC’s Doctor Who as transgender character Rose Noble.

2024

First all-trans+ expert panel in UK Parliament was held.

2024

Strengthening colonial precedence, a new bill in Ghana requires a jail term of up to three years for identifying as LGBTQIA+ and up to 10 years for campaigning for LGBTQIA+ rights.

2024

First Trans+ History Week is marked on 6 – 12 May.

2024

Nemo Mettler’s entry won Eurovision for Switzerland, making the singer the first person who identifies as non-binary to triumph at the song contest.