Beth Elliott

Beth Elliott (born 26 November 1950) is an American folk singer, activist, and writer. In the early 1970s, Elliot was involved with the Daughters of Bilitis and the West Coast Lesbian Conference in California. She became the centre of a controversy when a minority of attendees in the 1973 Conference, including a keynote speaker, called for her removal because of her trans status.

Early life Elliott was born on November 26, 1950, in Vallejo, California. She was raised Catholic and is of Italian, Irish, and French Huguenot descent. Elliott stated that she started to have feelings of gender dysphoria when she was a child and began transitioning in her late teens.

Career Beth Elliott has been publishing since the mid-1970s on bisexuality, feminism, the AIDS movement, sex positivity, and transness. Additionally, Elliott is the author of several books published by ENC Press. Her 1996 memoir, Mirrors: Portrait of a Lesbian Transsexual, was described as a “classic in lesbian feminist and transgender/transsexual literary history” by the Bay Area Reporter. She revisited the book in 2011, adding a new introduction and afterword as well as a chapter recounting her experience at the West Coast Lesbian Conference.

She has been involved in political work in support of gay rights and co-founded the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Club.

Daughters of Bilitis Elliot served as vice-president of the San Francisco chapter of the lesbian political group Daughters of Bilitis from 1971 to 1972, during which she served as editor of the chapter's newsletter, Sisters. The organization was split and eventually voted 35 to 29 against the inclusion of trans women in the San Francisco chapter of the DOB; When the vote was announced, the editorial staff of Sisters left the organization in solidarity with Elliott. Her college friend and member of the lesbian separatist Gutter Dykes Collective publicly accused her of sexually harassing her years earlier, which Elliott has denied, claiming she had made false accusations to save face with her group when it was revealed they were acquainted. She was on the organization committee and was asked to perform as a singer in the conference's entertainment program. Other performers including Jeanne Cordova, Some accounts state 3:1 in Elliott's favor while others state it as a bare majority. Elliott gave a brief performance and went on to leave the conference.

Post-conference The incident at the West Coast Lesbian Conference left a lasting impression; Elliott was emotionally and socially scarred, and the words defaming her circulated among grassroots lesbian networks and began the 'transsexual rapist' trope.