Home » Transgender History » Page 4
Category: Transgender History
This Retro Rerun bobbed to the surface of the TGForum Archices and shows that using the lady’s room has always been an issue for members of the trans community. Particularly for crossdressers who would definitely attract more attention in a men’s room. This article by Leslee M. Anthony was included in the Passing Tips category of TGF content in the 1990s. Find out how CDs approached the restroom issue in the carefree days before conservatives started making it illegal to use the lady’s room. Some of the tips are still good and others, maybe not so much.
Read More
In honor of Mother’s Day we present a segment of video from the forthcoming David de Alba documentary in which David talks about his mother Tila and her great influence on his life. The video was shot in David’s Las Vegas home.
Read More
TGF contributor and female impersonator David de Alba had another nickname before The Cuban Legend. When he lived in San Francisco’s Potrero Hills section he was known as Heri Hairstylist to the Stars. A writer from San Francisco, Peter Linenthal, interviewed David and put together his story and we share it here. He calls it David de Alba: Potrero Hill’s ‘Cuban Legend.’
Read More
Today we wrap up or voyage into the history of transgenderism in America pre-1877. Trans America was pulled from the TGForum archives. It originally ran in the 1990s and was written by Laura Rene Hotchkiss. In today’s final chapter Ms. Hotchkiss writes about the Native American berdache They were men, or women, who chose to combine gender roles, often dressing as the opposite sex.
Read More
It’s the 2015 Week In Transgenderism Wrap Up! It’s selected stories from our weekly news digest column for every month from January to December 2015. Return with us now to the beginning of 2015 and work your way through the year. Keep on scrolling! The news goes on for a long while.
Read More
In May of 2000 David de Alba went to see Steven Wayne in the La Cage Revue in Las Vegas and was mesmerized by his perfectionism performing as Cher and Celine Dion. David was also impressed with Wayne’s appearance, from the styling of the wigs he wore to his make-up, and of course his costuming. That’s why David conducted this interview that he has kindly allowed us to re-publish today on TGF.
Read More
In this TGF Re-run we bring back a series on trans people in America history written by former TGF contributor Lauren Rene Hotchkiss. The series was published originally in the 1990s. Today Lauren writes about the women who adopted male identities to fight in the Civil War.
Read More
David de Alba graciously allows us to re-publish his celebrity interviews. In October of 2000 David conducted the following interview with Carmen. Carmen became gravely ill early in 2003 and passed away on in March of 2003 at the early age of 52. David’s interview ensures that the name of this talented performer will live on.
Read More
In this TGF Re-run we bring back a series on trans people in America history written by former TGF contributor Lauren Rene Hotchkiss. The series was published originally in the 1990s. Today Lauren introduces an example of female to male crossdressing with Mountain Charley, and touches on crossdressed males playing female roles in The Hasty Pudding Theatricals at Harvard.
Read More
Step back in time and see a video of Rene de Carlo, the International Dancing Star, performing onstage at the legendary Finocchio’s in San Francisco in 1980. No, we don’t have a hot tub time machine. The video was recorded by David de Alba’s long-time partner Paul Ryner and it presents a clip out of the heyday of female impersonation in the City by The Bay.
Read More
From time to time we dip back into the TGF Archives and bring back an article from the good old days. Today we re-run a piece by TGF contributors Ms. Bob and Carol Kleinmaier that originally appeared on TGForum back in the 1990s. Crosssdressers have always enjoyed having their pictures taken. Meet some of them who posed en femme for photos back in the 1920s and ’30s.
Read More
In this TGF Re-run we bring back a series on trans people in America history written by former TGF contributor Lauren Rene Hotchkiss. The series was published originally in the 1990s. This first installment is about the man famed as the “governess” of New York, the crossdressing governor, Lord Cornbury, and the female pirate Ann Bonny who crossdressed as a man while she sailed the high seas in search of plunder.
Read More
David de Alba interviewed The Lady Chablis after her appearance in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. With David’s kind permission we share that interview here on TGForum. When I saw the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, I didn’t know what to expect, although I was told that it […]
Read More
The play Casa Valentina was based on a book created by two artists/antique dealers. It was titled Casa Susanna and was comprised of photos from the crossdressing resort that one of them found in a box at a flea market. Here is a report from Sex TV on the in which the artists talk about […]
Read More
Renowned gender illusionist Jim Bailey passed away on May 30 due to complications from pneumonia. He was 77. Bailey was from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born on January 10, 1938, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Sara and Claude Bailey. He had one brother, Claude. As a teenager he studied opera at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. In the 1960s he […]
Read More
This is a story of synchronicity, or perhaps coincidence. Our friend-of-TGForum, David de Alba, was a performer at Finocchio’s nightclub in San Francisco up until the 1980s. He also owned a hair salon in the Potrero Hill District of that city by the bay. Being a female impersonator, Finocchio’s only Cuban F.I. at that, brought […]
Read More
Dorian Wayne was an Anita Ekberg look-a-like who performed with The Jewel Box Review and at the 82 Club in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Dorian was the glamorous creation of Rick Colantino. Dorian starred in several “B” (or more like “D”) movies. Here is a short film about Dorian Wayne that includes film and still photos. It’s narrated by Rick Colantino.
Read More
In 1980 David de Alba, the Cuban Legend, stepped outside the walls of the famous female impersonation club Finocchio’s to do a special performance at the popular Cuban club Circulo Cubano in San Francisco. He had no dressing room or help so he wore the Judy Garland hobo costume from his Judy show, and a Pierot costume. And then — he sang.
Read More
Dallas Denny gave the keynote address at the 9th Transgender Lives: The Intersection of Health and Law Conference in Farmington, CT on April 25, 2015. The title of Dallas’s speech was “Dismantling the Gender Binary.” Just recognizing that there is a gender binary is the first step toward dismantling it. Dallas discusses a few of the milestones along the way to the acceptance of many gender identities.
Read More
David de Alba graciously allows us to republish his interviews with entertainers that he features on his website. This interview with Stephanie Williams a well known entertainer who worked all across the country and spent a number of years producing shows in New Orlean was conducted in 2000. Ms. Williams is now living full time as a woman and living in Las Vegas.
Read More
The Texas ‘T’ Party was a huge, really huge gathering of the transgender community held for a number of years in the early 1990s in San Antonio. The chief organizers were Linda and Cynthia Phillips. One was transgender the other was her wife. Linda Jensen recalls the Texas “T” Party and tells about the effect it had on her life.
Read More
Virginia Prince was one of the first pioneers of the modern era of crossdressing. She was not afraid to go on television shows in the ’60s to discuss the concept of men wearing women’s clothing. She published the first crossdressing magazine, Transvestia, and she founded Tri-Ess. She also was homophobic, denied transsexuals entry to Tri-Ess and was an opinionated old curmudgeon. Dallas Denny shares some of her interactions with the woman she both admired and despised.
Read More
2014 was on balance a very good year for transgender people in America. As a trans activist there was much to celebrate for our movement and even the most negative happenings had a silver lining and gave hope for future progress. In Part 1 of this year end summary I reviewed the many positive things that occurred on a national level, mostly thanks to actions by the Obama Administration with input from our trans activists and policy people.
Read More
David de Alba has spoken with many stars of the female impersonation world and his interviews with them help us to learn what it was like in the golden age of female impersonation. Today we turn things around and present an interview conducted by Linda La Blanche with David de Alba. Ms. La Blanche is a […]
Read More
Return with us now as we cruise through 2014 and present the year in TWIT. Stories of importance from every month of the waning year are included. From January through December and from RuPaul winning the best reality show host to the Barney’s TG ad campaign, and Jeffry Tambor in “Transparent.” We’ve got it all in this year end TWIT.
Read More
Ever since she ran into a group of crossdressed people during Mardi Gras in 1978 photographer Mariette Pathy Allen has been documenting trans people in photographs and assembling the photos into books. In 1989 her book “Transformations: Crossdressers and Those Who Love Them” featured members of Renaissance. Her latest book is “TransCuba.” Recently she was honored at Fantasia Fair with the 2014 Pioneer Award. Jan Brown visited Allen in her Manhattan home and introduces you to her.
Read More
