Beyond Binaries: The Extraordinary Lives of Trans People in History
Editor:
Olena Kosonogova
Author:
Olena Kosonogova
Olena Kosonogova (she/her), is PR Manager and a writer at Fiorry. Olena has a background as a psychologist and social work specialist, offering her a distinct viewpoint in her position. She effectively oversees public relations and produces insightful content. Based on her experience, she has a unique insight into human interaction and the significance of effective communication. When not busy with her profession, Olena loves her free time and balancing it out with tennis, taking her out and about, and a game of good chess that will challenge the mind.
Key Takeaways
The narrative that transgender identity is a “recent phenomenon” is profoundly ahistorical. Trans people in history are not a modern invention but a constant, though often obscured, thread woven through the tapestry of human existence across millennia and continents. Dismissing their presence ignores vast evidence from diverse cultures and eras. Understanding this rich trans history is not merely an academic exercise; it is important for recognizing the deep roots of gender identity diversity and validating the lived experiences of transgender people today.
From ancient Greece and Rome, where figures like Emperor Elagabalus demanded recognition with feminine names, to the revered third gender roles within indigenous cultures of the Americas and the enduring Hijra communities of South Asia. Transgender identity has manifested long before modern terminology or medical interventions like gender confirmation surgery existed. Historical records, though often filtered through the biases of their time, reveal trans women, trans men, and people beyond the binary living their truths – sometimes openly, sometimes covertly – challenging rigid notions of biological sex and gender categories.
Digging up these stories can help to reverse the erasure and illustrate that the trans experience is part of the natural human diversity with a long history behind it. The examples explored in this article, from ancient priests and warriors to 19th-century soldiers and 20th-century pioneers, provide undeniable proof that trans people have always existed, shaping societies and living extraordinary lives despite pervasive challenges. It is their perseverance that the modern trans rights movement is based on.
In the Ancient World: Before Binaries
The idea that all societies were united in rigidity of gender categories is a contemporary myth. In the ancient world, people frequently acknowledged gender diversity, offering some of the first documented evidence of trans lives in recorded transgender history. These cultures allowed positions between gender categories, and the notion that non-binary or transgender identity is a new development is belied by these cultures.
An example of this fluidity can be found in Sumer and Rome in the Galli priests of Inanna and Magna Mater. Assigned males at birth, these spiritual leaders ritually renounced masculinity, adopting feminine clothing, hairstyles, and social roles. They took up a sacred place as the middlemen between humans and the goddess, and this demonstrated that the gender identity outside of the binary was integrated into the religious and civic life. Their lives refute the argument that trans people had no historical precedent.
Equally, imperial Rome was a witness to outlandish claims of transgender identity. Roman emperor Elagabalus (218–222 CE) explicitly rejected their assigned male at birth status, demanding to be called “lady” and “empress,” using feminine names, and seeking early equivalents of gender confirmation surgery.
https://www.worldhistory.org/image/2370/elagabalus-bust
Ancient historians recount his marriage to a male charioteer and scorn for traditional gender markers. As one of antiquity’s most visible leaders challenging the binary, Elagabalus embodies how trans lives flourished—and were documented—long before modern medicine.
In South Asia, in the meantime, Hijra communities had formalised a third gender role more than 4,000 years ago. Revered in Hindu texts like the Mahabharata, Hijras were assigned male at birth but lived as women or outside the binary. They held cultural power as ritual performers and guardians of auspicious events, with distinct gender markers legally and socially acknowledged. This systematic incorporation showcases how many indigenous cultures tended to incorporate trans people organically, which is in stark contrast to the erasure during the colonial times.
These cases of Rome and South Asia contain one common strand, in that the transgender people were not outliers but part of the societies with complex views of human nature. Their legacies, preserved in art, legal codes, and religious texts, form the bedrock of transgender history—proving that diversity in gender identity is as ancient as civilization itself.
Famous Two-Spirit Legacies: Indigenous Sovereignty
In Native American history, native communities long held a knowledge of gender identities that went beyond the two genders. These roles, currently commonly referred to as Two-Spirit (a contemporary and pan-Indigenous term) represented sovereign interpretations of gender identity, in which people crossed gender boundaries with cultural and spiritual meaning. Many of them were not ostracized but were highly respected as healers, diplomats, and warriors.
A good example of this legacy is the famous Zuni lhamana We’Wha (1849-1896). We’Wha, a person who was born male and lived in a world of female social and ceremonial life, became one of the admired cultural ambassadors. They visited the Washington D.C. in 1886 where they met President Grover Cleveland and informed the anthropologists on Zuni lifeways. The abilities of We-ha in pottery, weaving and spiritual leadership demonstrated the fact that indigenous cultures did not treat the transgender identity as a deviation, it was an organic part of the social structure, a legally accepted category.
The Crow People had baté people such as Osh-Tisch (b. 1854) who flourished until colonization enforced strict binaries. Osh-Tisch was a good craftworker and warrior, who participated in the Battle of the Rosebud with other warriors in 1876. They existed as a third gender and wore traditionally female clothes and still had social status. Upon the forced attempt by U.S. government agents to mark Osh-Tisch with Western gender signifiers, Crow elders were protecting their identity by claiming cultural sovereignty.
The Zapotec Muxe of southern Mexico carry this practice on. Being assigned male at birth, the Muxe people can assume female social roles and wear female clothes and practice female livelihoods, yet they exist in a third gender sphere.
Oaxacan civil codes legally acknowledge them and they are commemorated in festivals. In contrast to Western terms (e.g., trans woman), Muxe is not defined by medical transition, but by a cultural role (artists, caregivers, and community anchors).
Colonial violence tried to eliminate these roles by imposing Christian gender categories and written documents that were related to biological sex. But the strength of such individuals as We’Wha and Osh-Tisch reminds us of a very crucial fact, that trans people were part and parcel of the pre-colonial societies. They were present in oral histories and early ethnographic accounts, and their presence enriches the transgender studies. Nowadays, Two-Spirit activists reappropriate these histories and in doing so, they claim that sovereignty encompasses the freedom to determine gender outside colonial binaries.
18th-19th Century: Defiance in Conflict
Trans people in the 18th and 19th centuries often had to live under very strict social rules with exceptional bravery, especially when social upheaval was taking place. Amid wars and societal transformation, historical figures emerged who defied assigned gender roles—proving trans identity has always existed, even when language to describe it did not.
Trans men took advantage of male dominated areas. In the US, notable soldier Albert Cashier (assigned female at birth) fought heroically in the Civil War as part of the 95th Illinois Infantry. Cashier spent more than 30 years as a man and was respected by other soldiers who never doubted his identity. His life showed us the complicated aspects of trans lives during the times when the terminology and medical assistance did not exist. Likewise, Dr. James Barry (1789-1865) became an outstanding British Army surgeon in the Empire.
https://picryl.com/media/james-barry-a8ba3e
Barry was born a female, but lived as a man since the age of 18, changing the face of military medicine and fiercely protecting her privacy. His legacy highlights the way trans people found power of autonomy in occupations that were inaccessible to women.
Trans women made their spot in the urban space in spite of increased risks. In 1830s New York, Mary Jones (a Black transgender woman) worked as a sex worker and became a symbol of resistance. Her 1836 trial for theft made headlines when she defiantly declared, “I am a woman!”—challenging courtroom fixation on her anatomy. Jones’ visibility highlighted early struggles for dignity within the trans community.
Beyond North America, Mexican revolutionary Amelio Robles Ávila (1889–1984) became one of history’s most notable trans masculine figures. Robles was assigned female at birth and took part in the rebellion in 1912 and was promoted to colonel soon after. He led an open life as a man, and required the recognition of legal documents and male attire including marriage to a woman. Robles’ military valor—and his community’s acceptance—illustrated how trans identity could thrive in the crucible of conflict.
These lives were interconnected in the following way: it was not a rare occasion that the crossing of gender boundaries was associated with survival, purpose, and self-determination. Cashier and Robles took advantage of the wartime confusion to be themselves; Barry and Jones took advantage of the urban anonymity to transform their realities. None could avail themselves of the modern procedures such as hormone therapy or sexual reassignment surgery, but their unerring self-awareness destroys the fantasy that transgender identity must be medically validated.
Their narratives which are documented in military records, court archives, and oral history are an essential part of the history of transgender people. They help us remember that trans people have always been warriors, healers and pioneers–far earlier than the language of trans rights appeared.
Early 20th Century: Medical Pioneers
The early 1900s witnessed groundbreaking intersections of trans identity and medical innovation, as trans people began accessing transformative care despite societal constraints. This era’s pioneers navigated uncharted territory—their lives challenging rigid gender categories while advancing trans studies through sheer visibility.
Trans women leveraged emerging opportunities with remarkable ingenuity. Lucy Hicks Anderson, a Kentucky-born socialite assigned male at birth, built a lavish life in Oxnard, California—hosting dignitaries as a popular hostess and philanthropist. Her marriage to soldier Reuben Anderson in 1944 made her among the first transgender women legally recognized in matrimony. When outed during a 1945 syphilis investigation, Lucy defiantly declared: “I defy any doctor in the world to prove I am not a woman.” Her trial became a pivotal moment in LGBT history, exposing how legal systems weaponized female sex designations.
Across the Atlantic, French actress and renowned nightclub entertainer Coccinelle (Jacqueline Dufresnoy) revolutionized transgender visibility after undergoing gender confirmation surgery in 1958.
Her celebrity status humanized transitions for the public, while her advocacy foreshadowed later human rights campaign efforts.
Trans men similarly reshaped professional landscapes. Jack Bee Garland (1869-1936), assigned female at birth, left home at an early age to live as a man. As a war correspondent during the Spanish-American War, he embedded with fellow soldiers. In San Francisco, he became a humanitarian journalist documenting the homeless—his dual existence highlighting society’s selective blindness toward cross-dressing when serving dominant narratives. Meanwhile, physician Dr. Alan Hart (1890-1962) pioneered tuberculosis research while living stealth. His 1917 hysterectomy—one of America’s first gender-affirming procedures—enabled him to practice medicine without scrutiny, though his marriage later ignited controversy. Both men exemplified how trans people accessed autonomy through strategic visibility.
These trailblazers operated before modern frameworks existed: no pride march solidarity, limited LGBTQ community networks, and crude surgical options compared to contemporary hormone therapy. Yet, their resilience laid foundations for future trans activist movements. Crucially, their stories reveal disparities—while white figures like Hart accessed surgery, indigenous communities and people in regions like East Bengal remained excluded from emerging medical gatekeeping.
The era’s contradictions resonate today: Coccinelle’s fame coexisted with non-binary people being erased by binary-focused medicine; Garland’s acceptance among troops contrasted with veterans later denied care.
Mid-20th Century Revolution And Resistance
A rebellious decade of the 1960s was launched, and trans women struggled with constant police brutality and social erasure. Their frontline resistance gave birth to the modern day trans rights movement and redefined LGBTQ community solidarity with visceral, unapologetic action.
San Francisco’s Compton’s Cafeteria Riot (1966) erupted when police targeted a transgender patron in the Tenderloin district. Queens and trans women fought back with unprecedented fury—overturning tables, smashing windows, and setting patrol cars ablaze. This leaderless rebellion birthed groups like Vanguard, demanding safe public spaces for marginalized trans lives.
In New York, the 1969 Stonewall uprising saw Marsha P. Johnson—a Black “street mother”—emerge as a pivotal figure, rallying crowds against police brutality.
While Sylvia Rivera arrived later that night (contemporary accounts place her uptown during the initial clash), she channeled Stonewall’s spirit into radical action. Rivera co-founded STAR House (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with Johnson, creating shelters for homeless queer youth excluded by mainstream gay groups.
Her fiery 1973 pride march speech—”Y’all Better Quiet Down!”—excoriated assimilationists who dismissed drag queens and trans people.
These leaders were struggling against multidimensional oppression: Rivera was displaced in leadership of early pride marches; Johnson struggled against AIDS indifference until her death. Their activism secured physical spaces for survival and connection at a time when even trans dating risked criminalization or violence.
Keep the tradition of safe contact with Fiorry- the trans inclusive dating app. Establish real connection with others without being judgmental. Be part of Fiorry: The courage of history and the modern sense of belonging.
Later 20th Century: Academic and Legal Base
The 1990s were marked by revolutionary steps, when transgender studies began to appear in universities, giving researchers the opportunity to write trans history and turn themselves against medicalized perceptions of identity. Early transgender studies such as Sandy Stone (1991) in her article titled “The Empire Strikes Back”, and Susan Stryker in her works of research, gave a new understanding of transgender people as being agents of cultural transformation rather than medical abnormality. Universities created trans studies programs, which developed critical structures of analyzing intersectional oppression.
At the same time, centuries-old traditions of the third gender were legally recognized. In South Asia, Hijra communities achieved a breakthrough: in 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that Hijra were citizens entitled to enjoy the rights of citizens; in 2014, NALSA in India decreed that Hijra were a separate gender. Such rulings confirmed identities that had been already recognized in indigenous cultures, but there remained gaps in the implementation of access to healthcare and anti-discrimination protections.
In the U.S., such groups as the Human Rights Campaign raised the profile of trans issues in popular politics, advocating against exclusionary hate crime legislation and employment practices. However, this was also a period of tensions, with grassroots trans activists attacking the compromises made by HRC such as its support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in 2007 without gender identity, a criticism previously raised by Sylvia Rivera.
The digital connectivity transformed community building, and local support became more available. For isolated individuals, searches like “trans near me” could now yield resources—counseling groups, legal clinics, or peer networks—that earlier generations lacked. Such infrastructure came in handy as a lifesaver during the AIDS epidemic and continued violence.
Allyship means stepping back, so others can step forward—then standing beside them in the fight
21st Century: Visibility & Challenges
The 21st century brought unprecedented visibility—yet profound contradictions—for transgender communities. While representation surged in media and policy, backlash intensified, revealing how progress remains fragile and unevenly distributed.
Non-binary inclusion marked a revolutionary shift. Countries like Canada, Australia, and Argentina introduced “X” gender markers on passports, while U.S. states like California and Oregon followed suit. This legal recognition validated identities beyond the binary, dismantling centuries of rigid categorization. Yet these victories faced immediate pushback: by 2023, twelve U.S. states banned “X” markers on driver’s licenses, weaponizing bureaucracy against existence itself.
Healthcare access saw both breakthroughs and brutal barriers. Informed-consent hormone therapy models expanded in urban centers, reducing gatekeeping. Telemedicine revolutionized care for rural communities. But systemic obstacles persisted: 1 in 3 trans Americans faced insurance denials for gender-affirming care, while 23 states introduced bills banning care for minors by 2024—often extending restrictions into adulthood. The result? A devastating care desert where cost, geography, and legislation collide.
Violence against trans women, particularly Black and Latina femmes, reached crisis levels. Over 300 murders were reported globally in 2023 alone—a likely undercount due to misgendering by authorities. In the U.S., Black trans women faced homicide rates 7x higher than the general population. This epidemic intertwined with poverty, employment discrimination (30% unemployment rate among trans POC), and inadequate police response. Fatal violence often began with street harassment, intimate partner abuse, or discriminatory housing policies forcing women into dangerous survival economies.
Three dynamics define this era:
- The Representation Trap: Corporate Pride campaigns featured trans models while funding anti-trans politicians.
- Generational Divide: Youth embraced fluidity (56% of Gen Z know trans/non-binary peers) as older factions weaponized “gender ideology” fears.
- Global Backlash: From U.S. statehouses to UK gender clinics, well-funded movements conflated trans existence with societal decay.
The paradox crystallized: never have trans lives been more seen—and never more under siege.
Conclusion
The fabric of human history reconsidered with an all-inclusive understanding tells an undeniable fact, trans people are not a new thing, but a constant feature that has been sewn through the ages. Galli priests in ancient Rome, the sanctified third gender in native societies, Civil War veterans, Stonewall rebels, and much more the lives of trans people have worked to define cultures, bend rules, and resist annihilation. The legacy breaks the myth that transgender identity is a product of modernity and the phenomenon is an expression of the eternal diversity in the human world.
Being seen is not the same as freedom, though. While the 21st century brought milestones like non-binary gender markers and digital connections enabling searches for trans dating USA, profound inequities endure. The epidemic of violence against trans women of color occurs, access to healthcare is not universally accessible and political reaction endangers hard-earned gains. The strength of trans people of the past serves to remind us: it is not through silence that progress is achieved, and resistance is achieved, but through powerful authenticity.
The way ahead will not only need to be recognized but also be acted on.
As we navigate modern complexities—from inclusive trans dating platforms to legislative battles—we stand on the shoulders of giants. We take our cue by their valor. Trans history is human history and the next chapter is ours to write, all those who struggle to live in a world where all human beings flourish as they are. It is an unbroken thread; the contest is still on.
Time to read: 16 min.
LGBTQ rights activist
Jazz Jennings
Being transgender is not just a medical transition. … It’s about discovering who you are, living your life authentically, loving yourself, and spreading that love towards other people and accepting one another