The photo is a 1974 photo of Leslie Feinberg, from the FBI file on hir. I’ve written a piece on my interpretation of Transgender Warriors and Trans Liberation, but I don’t think it’s quite polished enough, so I’ll post it later. Instead, I’ll go over hir FBI file: https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/dc-metro/rg-065/6282555/Batch0010/6282555_100-HQ-480756.PDF.
The FBI thought Feinberg could be violating the Communist Control Act, advocating the overthrow of the government, and engaging in rebellion. Needless to say, a hero to all of us. Feinberg was a member of the Workers World Party (the party still exists, but more notably PSL split from it), which apparently wasn’t openly advocating for the overthrow of the U.S, they just think it’s inevitable.
My favorite line? “captioned subject is believed to be a white female, who became male through some kind of sex change operation, and is possibly homosexual”. Some interesting language choice, and it’s an interesting snapshot into the evolution of Leslie’s identity.
The FBI found Leslie’s place of birth and birthdate from public school records. It’s a bit of an interesting look into all of the many places the FBI can get their information, along with how information like that was so much more patchwork before the digital age.
“Interview of subject is not being recommended because of the questionable nature of his sexuality”. Hmm, interesting.
It’s interesting how their investigation spanned multiple cities, from Kansas City to NYC to Bufffalo to Boston. It probably involved quite a few officers, though I’m sure it wasn’t the main focus for all of them.
There’s some interesting mention about changes in Leslie’s gender identity. Born a girl, for a time wearing a beard and mustache, then going back to “she”. I’m sure we all know, Feinberg’s gender didn’t stop evolving there.
“Subject reportedly contributes all extra money to WWP”, Leslie definitely was dedicated to the cause. Leslie doesn’t attend NYC WWP meetings, but the FBI doesn’t mention why.
The FBI isn’t immune to typoes, Leslie did some “criminal terspass” that garnered some attention.They wasted some time checking if Leslie was in Boston, but verified where Leslie in NYC lived by pretending to be a part of the Voter Registration Commission.
There’s a whole 43 pages of documents, all just from 1974-75. There’s plenty of interesting tidbits in there, so maybe check it out.
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Does anyone here want to share their experience with getting a gender incongruence diagnosis? I just learned a bit about the process in my country and apparently it can include talk from your practitioner with a friend/family member?? That seems so weird to me because why would anyone else know more about my own gender than me?
Also it can take up to like 6 months of weekly appointments to get a diagnosis which is wild!
‘Luckily’ I already have a year of waiting time behind me for some other thing which could be transferred to the gender section of the same clinic so at least I should be able to start the process of getting a diagnosis soon. Now knowing about the intense process that is getting a diagnosis I understand why there’s such a shortage of trans care practitioners…
How medical gatekeeping is handled varies a lot from country to country and i wouldn’t feel comfortable giving advice to somebody who isn’t dealing with the German healthcare system (which you most likely aren’t when you’re talking about a gender incongruence diagnosis, transferring clinic wait times and so on). You should connect to local trans orgs and communities over this.
Yeah that makes, I was mostly curious about personal experiences (doesn’t matter from where) out of interest. I’m not really looking for advice but I understand how my post can be read like that
Well, my personal experience is that trans people tend to find ways to navigate or even speedrun gatekeepy systems. We’re persistent in that, and connecting with others can save you a ton of unneccessary trouble. Personally i’ve found waiting lists to be the biggest obstacle to accessing care. The therapist i went for gave me the paperwork to access HRT after two sessions, and the one i later switched to would’ve done the same after the first session, but getting appointments in the first place still meant it took me about 8 months from my decision to start HRT to my first dose. But if i had been active in the communities i’m in now, i could’ve cut down on that time massively. It really helps to keep an ear to the ground, and to get new and up-to-date advice instead of digging up old posts somewhere that may not be accurate any longer. Like, the endocrinologist i go to is somebody i’m really happy with, listens, centers patient needs and experiences, is fine with me adjusting my dose on my own and i got a slot within two months, but by now she doesn’t take in new patients anymore and what i’ve heard from other doctors at the same place makes me feel sorry i recomended it to others. A lot of the quality of care boils down to individual doctors and therapists.
Self medicating isn’t as common across the border (The Netherlands) as far as I know. It’s easier to get a diagnosis online from a country where the process is much shorter and then get hrt at a private clinic that’s not covered by insurance. If I wasn’t able to skip the waiting time at my current clinic I’d probably have gone for that option as well
I didn’t get a diagnosis of “this chick is trans” or whatever. I was also very lucky that we had a gender clinic and all I had to do was fill out a form and a couple interviews before being started on HRT. I had already been living as a woman and dressing as one for a year and a bit at that point, which mightve been why it went fast or they were just cool. There’s another larger gender clinic you have to go through to get bottom surgery covered, that’ll be probably 2 years from when I was initially referred just to get in their care.
Wow that’s awesome. To get hrt and/or surgery you need a diagnosis in my country. Even if you’ve already socially transitioned this can take months. There are private clinics that do the diagnosis faster but those are not covered by insurance so very expensive
Where I’m at (Texas, USA), all I had to do is schedule a virtual appointment and they were basically like “do you want monotherapy or do you want anti androgens too?” and “what method would you prefer taking E?”
If you wanted anti-androgens, you had to do bloodwork to get your potassium checked because spiro can raise potassium levels. And to start E, they just asked if you had a problem with high blood pressure.
Of course they also went over the effects, but basically from a “I’m sure you’ve already read about all of this before scheduling an appointment, but we have to do this to say you have informed consent”.
Anything else is just transphobic gatekeeping.
Also, I scheduled the appointment the night before I think. But I wouldn’t say that a system is transphobic for taking a couple weeks to get an appointment. More than a month, and I’d be questioning if the system is just generally bad or specifically bad with regards to trans healthcare.
Also, idk if T is different since it’s technically a controlled substance because of athletes abusing it.
Rare W for Texas I suppose, that’s awesome. I think in general medication in most of Europe is way more strictly regulated, so it makes sense that the same is true for hrt. Not a good thing :(
Do you know if Texas will continue offering HRT for trans people? I sometimes read that Republicans are looking to ban all HRT and am just wondering if Texas is a safe place to live in regards to getting HRT.
Definitely a place for minors to avoid. For adults, I’d still recommend avoiding regardless of what the policy for HRT is. The AG has tried getting lists of people taking HRT from medical orgs I think and the DPS has been secretly instructed to deny gender marker changes and make a database of such requests…
Hmm that doesn’t sound too good😵💫
What if you’re able to circumvent the medical orgs for HRT and already have changed your gender marker?😅
Shouldn’t be an issue then.
No clue. Pretty sure there’s already non-public databases for name changes and gender markers, for purposes like criminal investigations or running for public offices? But they’re not retroactively reversing markers AFAIK.
What if you’re coming from abroad, so they wouldn’t have any information about previous name/gender changes at all?😅
I was very very lucky. They ran out of funding a while ago, which is unfortunate. I’m really lucky I got to keep that doctor for further HRT when he moved his practice.
I didn’t start E for a while, just spiro. It mightve been because it’s off lablel and prescribed to plenty of cis people that I was able to be prescribed but also once a doctor prescribes you something, a future one generally doesn’t fuck with it if they haven’t ticked every box (exceptions being like the meds you took made you go to the hospital cause you were allergic or had a bad side effect etc). Just getting past the gatekeepers the first time is enough.
It’s something I’ve thought about, my doctor has talked about retirement for years now… I could get a type of masters in nursing to take over part of his practice so long as there’s another doc in the background. I’d be able to prescribe and diagnose. I’d probably need more clinical experience in mental health but the pediatrics experience isn’t like useless.
That’s probably why it’s so hard to get that first prescription here, even if a doctor wanted to they could only do it with a diagnosis from another specialist.
Being able to prescribe hrt to new trans people would be pretty cool and fulfilling work though, are you seriously considering it?
Yes. It’s a step up in pay, it gives to my trans community, I know I can do it, just need to make the clinical hours requirement
Cool, good luck :)
Should probably just DIY while you wait
I’ve looked into it but it’s expensive and I have a lot of medical anxiety. Knowing that I can probably get hrt for free in less than a year and will have regular appointments with a specialist then as well makes it worth the wait for me. If the rules/waiting times change then I’ll probably look into self medicating again
For a lot of trans girls more on the fence but actively seeking HRT, I’d say do it sooner than not. It just takes more time if you wait. For trans guys on T, the initial effects come on way faster than feminizing HRT and if you have to wait for less than a year I guess that’s not bad. It’ll probably turn off your periods in like a month or two on it if you want that sooner. You can do vocal training RIGHT NOW and it’ll help out with any vocal dysphoria, T will deepen your voice on its own but it’s not like you’re stuck waiting if you want to make progress before it.
Here in Denmark it took about a year and three months from getting a referral to a gender clinic from my GP to actually getting an HRT prescription. This has since increased to around 2+ years IIRC, and this is only if you only have to do the minimum number of appointments (4), 2 with a psychologist and 2 with a doctor. You also risk being outright denied if you have mental health issues and I think that at this point trans kids and youth under 18 have an almost 0% chance of getting HRT. Like if DIY hadn’t been an option I would have offed myself long before getting an official prescription.
:denmark-burning: After reading this I had the idea to ask my brother what his experience has been. I’m not sure there is an emoji to express myself after reading what he wrote.
Time for a little
Ah you’re from Denmark too? My condolences. This country truly is a pile of crap😵💫 I’m honestly looking to get out of here as soon as I finish my degree.
I had hoped denmark was om the better side of all this.
Denmark and the other Nordic countries are good at cultivating an image of being progressive utopias, which sadly just isn’t true in reality.
The better countries in Europe seem to be Spain, France and Germany, but in general Europe is far behind the blue US states when it comes to gender affirming care.
in my country there is a waiting list of 10+ years at which point you’re subjected to hours of gruelling interviews with incredibly old-fashioned, invasive questions. i think you can imagine the sort of things they ask you. then you can get an Official gender dysphoria diagnosis, which is a prerequisite to availing of a scheme where you go get gender surgeries in a different country and the state can pay you back (but you have to front up the cash initially lol, love neoliberalism). as a result lots of people are DIY or you can speedrun getting a legit prescription by using a gender clinic that operates in the british-occupied northern part of my country, and is basically exploiting that niche for profit. they’re informed consent and it takes a couple months. i have a nice GP who’s willing to continue that script indefinitely so i don’t even need them anymore. there’s no oversight or support through that clinic to speak of, i don’t get to see an endo, they don’t even remind you to send them bloods or anything, just demand 30 euro a month off you for the service of providing a prescription through basically legal loopholes.