Lou Sullivan

Louis Graydon Sullivan (June 16, 1951 – March 2, 1991) was an American author and activist known for his work on behalf of transgender men. He was the first trans man known to publicly identify as gay, and is largely responsible for the modern understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity as distinct, unrelated concepts.

Sullivan was a pioneer of the grassroots female-to-male (FTM) advocacy movement and was instrumental in helping individuals obtain peer-support, counseling, endocrinological services and reconstructive surgery outside of gender dysphoria clinics. He founded FTM International, one of the first organizations specifically for FTM individuals, and his activism and community work was a significant contributor to the rapid growth of the FTM community during the late 1980s. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1991.

Early life Sullivan was born on June 16, 1951, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin to John Eugene Sullivan, who owned a trucking company, and Nancy Louise Sullivan, a homemaker. During his adolescence he expressed continued confusion about his identity, writing at age 15 in 1966 that "I want to look like what I am but don't know what some one like me looks like. I mean, when people look at me I want them to think—there's one of those people [...] that has their own interpretation of happiness. That's what I am."

Sullivan was attracted to the idea of playing different gender roles, and his attraction for male roles was outlined in his writings. Specifically in his short stories, poems and diaries, he often explored the ideas of male homosexuality and gender identity. He moved to San Francisco in 1975 with his longtime partner, a cisgender man. Sullivan was the first known case of a trans man developing AIDS. Sullivan kept a journal throughout his life. Though he had hoped to edit and publish his own diaries before his death, he was unable to, and selected excerpts were released in 2019 as We Both Laughed in Pleasure (retitled "Youngman" in the UK), edited by Ellis Martin and Zach Ozma. The guidebook was re-published several times, and Sullivan worked on the third edition in his final years, calling it "the most important thing" he ever did. He also published a biography of the San Francisco-based transgender writer, Jack Bee Garland in 1990. Sullivan is also credited for being the first to discuss the eroticism of men's clothing. that was circulated by the Golden Gate Girls/Guys. It was originally primarily focused on the needs of MTF and transvestite readers and read "much like a small town newspaper", but under Sullivan's editing it gained more gender parity between MTF and FTM issues. According to Megan Rohrer, Sullivan "transform[ed] Gateway in a way that [would] forever change FTM mentoring" because trans people could still obtain information on how to pass without having to attend group gatherings in person. The Historical Society has displayed selected materials from Sullivan's papers in a number of exhibitions, notably "Man-i-fest: FTM Mentoring in San Francisco from 1976 to 2009," which was open through much of 2010 in the second gallery at the society's headquarters at 657 Mission St. in San Francisco, and "Our Vast Queer Past: Celebrating San Francsico's GLBT History," the debut exhibition in the main gallery at the society's GLBT History Museum that opened in January 2011 in San Francisco's Castro District.

FTM International In 1986, Sullivan began hosting quarterly get-togethers for FTM people in San Francisco to offer resources, education, and community. In the early days of the group, attendees were screened by Sullivan, either through mail, telephone, or in-person interviews, to ensure confidentiality. The newsletter of the group, simply called The FTM Newsletter, was first sent out in September 1987, and would become a leading source of information for FTM people across the world, with letters and anecdotes published from men in places including the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

Sullivan is remembered as being instrumental in demonstrating the existence of trans men who were themselves attracted to men, which he did by lobbying the American Psychiatric Association and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. He was determined to change people's attitudes towards trans gay men but also to change the medical process of transition by removing sexual orientation from the criteria of gender identity disorder so that trans men who are gay could also access hormones and surgery, essentially making the process "orientation blind". The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history, and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

In August 2019, Sullivan was one of the honorees inducted in the Rainbow Honor Walk, a walk of fame in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood noting LGBTQ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields".

In 2017, Brice Smith published a biography of Sullivan, Lou Sullivan: Daring to Be a Man Among Men.

Works "A Transvestite Answers a Feminist" in Gay People's Union News (1973) "Looking Towards Transvestite Liberation" in Gay People's Union News (1974) Female to Male Cross Dresser and Transsexual (1980) Information for the Female to Male Cross Dresser and Transsexual (1990) From Female To Male: The Life of Jack Bee Garland (1990) We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan 1961-1991. (2019). Edited by Ellis Martin and Zach Ozma