JoAnn Roberts (March 18, 1948–June 7, 2013) was an American publisher and activist whose important work bridges the transition from print to digital transgender resources.
Background
Roberts founded Creative Design Services (CDS) in 1985. Print magazines included:
- Ladylike
- International TransScript
Books included:
- Art & Illusion: A Guide to Crossdressing
- Vol. 1: Face & Hair
- Vol. 2: Fashion & Style
- The Transsexual’s Survival Guide to Transition & Beyond
- Volume 2: for Family, Friends, & Employers
- Coping with Crossdressing: Tools & Strategies for Partners
Roberts also produced instructional videos as well as social events like Paradise in the Poconos and Beauty And The Beach.
Roberts co-founded the Renaissance Education Association, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, the Congress of Transgender Organizations, the Transgender Alliance for Community, and GenderPac, and served an important role in the second International Congress on Crossdressing, Sex, and Gender.
In 1991, Roberts authored the Gender Bill of Rights.
In 1995 Roberts began developing several websites, first via CDS. then via 3-D Communications, Inc. with Jamie Faye Fenton and Angela Gardner from 1996 to 2006. Roberts absorbed all of the assets back into CDS in 2006.
- cdspub.com
- 3dcom.com
- transgender.org
- tgforum.com
Roberts died of lung cancer in 2013 and was posthumously honored with a Virginia Prince Award that year.
References
Roberts, JoAnn (1990). A Bill of Gender Rights. [archive]
Resources
Creative Design Services (cdspub.com)
Jami Kathleen Taylor is an American political scientist who has published on the transgender rights movement.
Background
Taylor earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, then a Masters in Public Administration from Old Dominion University in 2001. She then earned a Masters in Library Science at University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2005 before earning a PhD in Public Administration from North Carolina State University in 2008.
Books
The Remarkable Rise of Transgender Rights (2018). Jami K. Taylor, Daniel C. Lewis, and Donald P. Haider-Markel. University of Michigan Press, ASIN B07HNY8CYD
Transgender Rights and Politics: Groups, Issue Framing, and Policy Adoption (2014). Jami K. Taylor and Donald Haider-Markel, eds. University of Michigan Press, ASIN B00ZYNBR5K
Resources
Linkedin: jamitaylorva
University of Toledo (utoledo.edu)
Roberta Angela Dee (October 31, 1950–March 13, 2003) was an American author and transgender rights activist. A longtime critic of sexologists Ray Blanchard and Anne Lawrence for their promotion of the disease “autogynephilia,” Dee was the journalist who broke the story of Lawrence’s unconsented genital examination of an unconscious Ethiopian patient during a surgical procedure. The incident led to Lawrence’s resignation as an anesthesiologist.
Background
Dee was born in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in Long Island, and lived in Atlanta before becoming a resident of Augusta, Georgia. She had a journalism degree. Her writing was published widely, and she was founder of the Women on the Net (WON) website, an early online resource for women of color. Her work includes:
- novels for Reluctant Press
- Roberta Dee: TS Girlfriend
- Roberta & Ren
- Sasha
- Roberta, a Lesbian Transsexual
- The Business of Being a Woman
- erotica for The Gay Café Library
- columns for print periodical The Transvestian
- columns for Roberta Angela Dee’s Haven on The Transgender Guide
Lawrence exposé (2002)
On October 10, 2002, Dee published the following post to soc.support.transgendered. It included the November 20, 1997 letter concluding the Washington State investigation and the 2-page Activity Report summarizing the case. While Dee says the patient was a minor, the documentation does not support that assumption. The patient was anesthetized by Lawrence prior to a hysterectomy, and the surgeon told Lawrence that the patient’s genitals appeared that way due to aging.
File on Anne A. Lawrence, M.D.
Dear Members:
I am in receipt of the document from the State of Washington, Department of Health, concerning the allegations that Anne A. Lawrence, MD, had, inappropriately examined a female minor. Of the 10 page document provided to me, I have reproduced the most pertinent three pages as text.
Appendix G indicates that Anne Lawrence plea bargained in order to avoid a complete investigation. This, in my humble opinion, is not indicative of someone who is innocent.
If a charge of sexual impropriety had been directed at me, I would seek a thorough investigation to clear my name and remove any suspicion. Why would an innocent person do any less?
Lawrence, at one point, had two attorneys defending her. I doubt that the little girl’s parents could afford the ensuing legal battle. Consequently, Lawrence is cleared by default.
Each of us, I’m sure, will reach his or her own conclusions. However, I must say that the activities do not sit well with me. I’ve seen this kind of thing before. A dirty doctor walks away unscathed but an innocent child, though not physically harmed, is emotionally scarred for life.
With Kind Regards,
Roberta Angela Dee
PS If anyone suspects that I might have doctored the document or that I omitted any pertinent information, the address is provided and you may request a copy of the original document.
STATE OF WASHINGTON
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
1300 SE Quince Street · P.O. Box 47866 · Olympia, WA 98504-7866
Full Lawrence file (2003)
Following Dee’s exposé, I requested the full file from the state to confirm her transcription independently. Dee’s version was not redacted and included some material that was removed in the version I received upon request in 2003. Among the notable changes:
05-22-97 Call from Lee Norman. Lawrence resigned. Reason threat of adverse action. She plea bargained to stave off investigation. Unauthorized exam of pateint. [… redacted* …] The patient was not harmed. Question of moral turpitude.
* Dee’s version said the edited line about Lawrence said: “Respondent has been having bizarre behavior for a while.”
References
Dee, Roberta Angela (October 10, 2002). File on Anne A. Lawrence, M.D. soc.support.transgendered [via Google Groups archive]
Dee, Roberta Angela. The Myth of Autogynephilia. The Transgender Guide. http://www.tgguide.com/question/rad/autogynephilia.html
Roberts, Monica (February 8, 2007). Roberta Angela Dee. Transgriot. https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2007/02/roberta-angela-dee.html
Roberts, Monica (March 13, 2013). Happy Birthday, Roberta Angela Dee. Transgriot. https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/03/happy-birthday-roberta-angela-dee.html
Resources
The Transgender Guide (tgguide.com)
WON: Women on the Net (members.aol.com/aawon1)
Monica Katrice Roberts (May 4, 1962 – October 5, 2020) was an American journalist and transgender rights activist. Roberts was founding editor of the award-winning blog TransGriot.
Background
Roberts grew up in Houston, Texas, graduating from Jones High School in 1980 and University of Houston in 1984. Roberts was a United Airlines Customer Service Representative from 1987 to 2001.
Roberts’ writing appeared at the Bilerico Project, Ebony.com, The Huffington Post and the Advocate. Roberts began writing TransGriot as a column in 2004, then as a standalone blog in 2006.
Roberts was honored many times for this work:
- IFGE Trinity Award (2006)
- Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award (2015)
- Phillips Brooks House Association’s Robert Coles Call of Service Award (2016)
- HRC John Walzel Equality Award (2017)
- GLAAD Media Awards (2016 and 2018)
- Out 100 (2019)
Roberts was critical of medical and religious leaders who are critical of the transgender rights movement, including Paul McHugh. Roberts also raised the voices of trans women of color who were important historical figures in online activism, including Roberta Angela Dee.
References
Schmidt, Samantha (October 9, 2020). Monica Roberts, a pioneering transgender activist and journalist from Houston, dies at 58. Washington Post https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/09/monica-roberts-transgender-activist/
All Things Considered (October 9, 2020). Transgender Rights Advocate And Journalist Monica Roberts Dies At 58. NPR https://www.npr.org/2020/10/09/922375866/transgender-rights-advocate-and-journalist-monica-roberts-dies-at-58
Bote, Joshua (October 9, 2020). ‘A trailblazing voice’: Monica Roberts, influential trans journalist and activist, dies at 58. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/09/trans-journalist-monica-roberts-founder-transgriot-dies/5939542002/
Guerra, Joey (October 8, 2020). Monica Roberts, a towering advocate for transgender rights in Houston and beyond, dies. Houston Chronicle https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/features/article/Monica-Roberts-a-towering-advocate-for-15632154.php
Kurutz, Steven (October 13, 2020). Monica Roberts, Transgender Advocate and Journalist, Dies at 58. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/us/monica-roberts-dead.html
Shey, Brittanie (January 30, 2018). 8 Houston Women to Watch on Social Media. Houstonia Magazine https://www.houstoniamag.com/articles/2018/1/30/houston-women-social-media
Roberts, Monica (November 05, 2007). Why Is The Catholic Church Hatin’ On Transpeople? TransGriot. https://transgriot.blogspot.com/2007/11/why-is-catholic-church-hatin-on.html
Resources
TransGriot (transgriot.blogspot.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
CFAIR (cfair.blogspot.com)
Miranda Yardley (born 1967) is a British accountant, publisher, and “autogynephilia” activist. Yardley identifies as transsexual and is a prominent conservative voice in the “gender critical” movement.
Background
Yardley earned a degree in accounting from Bangor University in 1990. Yardley started an accounting firm in 2000 and took over publishing music magazine Terrorizer in 2002 under the auspices of Dark Arts, Ltd. Yardley later added the titles Dominion and Sick Sounds.
In 2008, Yardley made a gender transition.
Activism
In 2014, Yardley became heavily involved in online fights about transgender politics, specifically rejecting the idea that trans women are women:
The gender critical approach establishes that “being a woman” is not a matter of an individual’s identity. Someone who is gender critical recognises that trans women are biologically male (and trans men are biologically female), that human beings are sexually dimorphic, that we are all subject to sex-based socialisation from birth. These are not value judgements; being biologically male is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. It is morally neutral.
This feminist approach views gender essentialism as the basis of women’s oppression, which as an extreme example would include violence (by men) against women. This is not to say that all men are violent, rather that male socialisation has violent aspects (like female socialisation has aspects that are, to quote a phrase, “sugar and spice and all things nice”). I therefore view gender as a harmful social construct which divides power unequally. I think of it as a hierarchy, with the sex-class “male” at the top.
Yardley (2014)
Media appearances
In 2018, Yardley was suspended from Twitter for saying Green Party spokesperson Aimee Challenor is a man. In April 2018 pro-trans cisgender activist Helen Islan brought a “transgender hate crime” complaint against Yardley that led to police involvement and a long investigation. The case was dropped in Yardley’s favor in March 2019.
Since that time, Yardley has been embraced by anti-transgender activists, appearing on their platforms, writing about trans community controversies, and working to change the UK’s 2004 Gender Recognition Act.
References
Yardley, Miranda (August 18, 2014). Kellie Maloney, Newsnight and the debate the transgender community refused to have. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2014/08/kellie-maloney-newsnight-and-debate-transgender-community-refused-have
Yardley, Miranda (August 30, 2016). What Autogynephilia is, and what is it not; a brief note. https://mirandayardley.com/en/what-autogynephilia-is-and-what-is-it-not-a-brief-note/
Yardley, Miranda (July 10, 2016). 17 Signs I Am An Autogynephile And Didn’t Know It. https://mirandayardley.com/en/17-signs-i-am-an-autogynephile-and-didnt-know-it/
Yardley, Miranda (July 10, 2016). Pornography And Autogynephilia In The Narratives Of Adult Transgender Males. https://mirandayardley.com/en/pornography-and-autogynephilia-in-the-narratives-of-adult-transgender-males/
Yardley, Miranda (June 17, 2017). A History of Autogynephilia. https://mirandayardley.com/en/a-history-of-autogynephilia/
Yardley, Miranda. Written evidence submitted by Miranda Yardley [1840] British Parliament https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/18025/pdf/
Resources
Miranda Yardley (mirandayardley.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Instagram (instagram.com)
Medium (medium.com)
YouTube (youtube.com)
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
Andrea James is an American filmmaker and consumer activist.
Background
Andrea Jean James was born on January 16, 1967 in Wisconsin. James and sibling Greg (born 1969) were adopted. Their parent Nancy (born 1937) worked at several nonprofits, and their parent Warren (1934-2016) ran a small farm before taking several roles at a steel mill.
James grew up in Franklin, Indiana, earned a bachelor’s degree in English, Latin, and Greek at Wabash College in 1989, then received a master’s degree in English at University of Chicago in 1990. James then worked in advertising in Chicago at the Chicago Tribune and several ad agencies. During gender transition, James developed several consumer resources for trans people, including tsroadmap.com, the predecessor to this website.
Media activism
James moved to Los Angeles and produced several popular instructional videos with Calpernia Addams, covering voice, makeup, facial feminization surgery, and coming out. They also produced and performed in the first all-transgender production of The Vagina Monologues in 2004. In 2008, they were in the first dating show with trans-attracted suitors, with Addams as the first out transgender star.
James served on the boards of several nonprofits and has consulted on and helped produce many film and television projects with trans themes.
The Man Who Would Be Queen (2003)
James was a key figure in the community response to the 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey. James and Lynn Conway began methodically documenting and examining the network of people engaged in the academic exploitation of sex and gender minorities, finding that a small group of “experts” were responsible for the majority of harmful beliefs and practices concerning the community.
James published the 2006 overview “A defining moment in our history.” The community response was described as “one of the most organized and unified examples of trans activism to date” (Surkan, 2007).
Academic backlash (2007)
Following a 2007 campaign of defamation led by the academics promoting disease models of gender identity and expression, James began working to close ringleader Kenneth Zucker‘s gender clinic at CAMH in Toronto. James gathered evidence for Zucker’s employer, presented a 2008 paper about the populist response called “Fair comment, foul play,” and began collecting information from former CAMH patients. Alice Dreger reprinted a piece from Zucker’s journal in the 2015 book Galileo’s Middle Finger, prompting James to respond with “Sexology’s war on transgender children.” Zucker was fired in 2015 and the clinic was closed.
Media backlash (2014)
The American trans rights movement entered a decadent phase following the election of Barack Obama. Following a series of political gains, complacency and infighting reached a peak in late 2014, and both media coverage and public opinion began to turn negative. The backlash accelerated following the election of Donald Trump, concentrated on several hot-button topics: military service, sports, prisoners, public accommodation, and gender diverse youth.
Following publication of an egregiously biased 2018 cover story on transgender “desistance” in The Atlantic, James began working on The Transphobia Project, a long-term effort to document the key media figures and platforms engaged in propagating biased content about gender identity and expression.
References
Surkan K (2007). Transsexuals protest academic exploitation. In Faderman, Lillian (ed). Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Events, 1848-2006. Salem Press, 2007, pp. 700–702. ISBN9781587652653 (PDF)
James AJ (2006). A defining moment in our history: Examining disease models of gender identity. Gender Medicine, 2006(3;1) p. S56 https://doi.org/doi|10.1016/S1550-8579(06)80121-X
James AJ (June 11, 2015). Sexology’s war on transgender children. Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2015/06/11/sexologys-war-on-transgender.html
Hiscott, Rebecca (June 26, 2019). This Is What Transphobia in the Media Looks Like. Kickstarter Magazine https://medium.com/kickstarter/this-is-what-transphobia-in-the-media-looks-like-3b9da535322e
When The Atlantic published its July/August 2018 cover story on transgender youth, Andrea James was among the chorus of trans writers and activists who excoriated it for being biased. “Editor Jeffrey Goldberg published it despite many warnings that it was likely to be a dog whistle, a kind of bias that most people won’t notice,” she says.
The article focused on the disputed concept of “desistance,” which views gender nonconforming children as having a disease to be cured, delegitimizing the experiences and struggles of the majority of trans youth. “It also came out that elite journalists” — including the author of the Atlantic piece — “were excluding transgender journalists from backchannels where they were discussing coverage,” James says.
Bolded sections removed after complaint by Jesse Singal
Resources
Andrea James (andreajames.com)
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
K.J. Surkan (born February 6, 1969) is an American author and academic whose work focuses on gender.
Background
Surkan earned a bachelor’s degree from Smith College in 1991, then attended University of Minnesota, earning a master’s degree and Ph.D. in English.
Surkan’s 2006 article “Transsexuals Protest Academic Exploitation” summarized the turning point in the academic exploitation of transgender people.
Surkan began teaching at MIT in 2005.
Resources
Academia.edu (mit.academia.edu)
LinkedIn: KJ Surkan
Robin Elaine Wilson (born October 2, 1960) is an American journalist who spent most of her career at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her coverage of the 2003 Northwestern University investigation into J. Michael Bailey following publication of The Man Who Would Be Queen was criticized by Bailey’s friend Alice Dreger.
Background
Wilson was born in Detroit, Michigan and earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from College of Wooster in 1982. She joined The Chronicle in 1985 and wrote for them until 2017. She and her husband Darryl Ozias (born 1956) have two sons. She joined the Iowa State University wrestling program as Director of Operations in 2017, having previously volunteered for Head Coach Kevin Dresser when one of her sons wrestled for Dresser at Virginia Tech.
The Man Who Would Be Queen (2003)
In 2003 and 2004, Wilson wrote six articles about the book and the fallout for the Chronicle. The first, which Dreger characterizes as “gossipy,” came out shortly after Bailey’s vulgar misuse of gender diverse children at Stanford University. Wilson joined Bailey on on one of his voyeuristic sex tours (see Charlotte Allen) to the gay nightclub Circuit with Anjelica Kieltyka and the woman called “Juanita” in his book. Wilson describes Bailey as using medical gatekeeping to gain access to young attractive trans women: “As a psychologist, he has written letters they needed to get sex-reassignment surgery, and he has paid attention to them in ways most people don’t.”
In her 2008 article published by Kenneth Zucker, in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, Dreger singled out Wilson as the journalist who failed to cover the story objectively:
Wilson wrote these scandal reports as if she had just come upon the scene with no previous insider knowledge and no insider connections to use to figure out the truth behind this “controversy.” When I realized the strange role Wilson had played, I tried asking her and her editor why they hadn’t used her before-and-after-scandal positioning to ask deep questions about why Bailey’s relationships appeared, at least in public accounts, to have suddenly changed with these women. Wilson’s editor [Bill Horne] sent me back boilerplate: “We stand by the accuracy, and fairness, of Robin’s reporting and are not inclined to revisit decisions Robin and her editors made here with regard to what to include or exclude from those stories in 2003.” But I was left obsessing about an if: If Wilson had used her special journalistic position as someone who was there just before the mushroom cloud, she might have seen—right away—what I saw when years later I charted the journey.
Galileo’s Middle Finger (2015)
Dreger toned down her comments in the reprinted version in Galileo’s Middle Finger:
Now, maybe Wilson would have concluded that Conway had just educated all these women into understanding they had been abused. But if she had taken this or any other theory of what had changed the scene so dramatically, and then bothered to look into the actual charges, as I was finally doing years later, she might have seen them fall apart one by one. And then she could have reported that. Was Wilson a good liberal simply afraid to look as though she was defending a straight, politically incorrect sex researcher against a group of supposedly downtrodden trans women? Had Conway and James scared the crap out of her, as they seemed to scare everybody else? Or was the explanation simpler? Was it just that trying to figure out what the hell was really going on would have taken too much time and other resources?
References
Dreger, Alice (2015). Galileo’s Middle Finger.
Dreger, Alice (2008). The Controversy Surrounding The Man Who Would Be Queen. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Wilson, Robin (September 3, 2016). Citing Safety Concerns, Northwestern U. Bans Tenured ‘Gadfly’ Professor From Campus.
Wilson, Robin (December 10, 2004). Northwestern U. Will Not Reveal Results of Investigation Into Sex Researcher.
Wilson, Robin (December 1, 2004). Northwestern U. Concludes Investigation of Sex Researcher but Keeps Results Secret.
Wilson, Robin (December 12, 2003). Northwestern U. Psychologist Is Accused of Having Sex With Research Subject.
Wilson, Robin (July 25, 2003). Transsexual ‘Subjects’ Complain About Professor’s Research Methods.
Wilson, Robin (July 17, 2003). 2 Transsexual Women Say Professor Didn’t Tell Them They Were Research Subjects.
Wilson, Robin (June 20, 2003). ‘Dr. Sex.’
Resources
Chronicle of Higher Education (chronicle.com)
Iowa State Athletics (cyclones.com)
William Walter Horne, Jr. (born August 23, 1959) is an American journalist who was editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education from 2000 to 2007. Horne’s Chronicle coverage of the 2003 Northwestern University investigation into J. Michael Bailey following publication of The Man Who Would Be Queen was criticized by Bailey’s friend Alice Dreger in both the Archives of Sexual Behavior and Galileo’s Middle Finger.
Background
Horne earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Cornell University and a law degree from Albany Law School of Union University in 1984. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1985 and practiced for several years before going into journalism, where he has published with bylines including William W. Horne and Bill Horne.
Horne joined the Chronicle in 2000 as Deputy Managing Editor, rising to editor from 2004 to 2007. He then held editor positions at World History Group from 2008 to 2013, then joined AARP in 2014 as Executive Editor of their magazine. His wife Kathleen “Kathy” Broadbent Horne is also a lawyer.
The Man Who Would Be Queen (2003)
Chronicle staffer Robin Wilson wrote six articles covering the controversy, and Dreger was critical of the coverage, citing her correspondence with Horne:
When I realized the strange role Wilson had played, I tried asking her and her editor why they hadn’t used her before-and-after-scandal positioning to ask deep questions about why Bailey’s relationships appeared, at least in public accounts, to have suddenly changed with these women. Wilson’s editor sent me back boilerplate: “We stand by the accuracy, and fairness, of Robin’s reporting and are not inclined to revisit decisions Robin and her editors made here with regard to what to include or exclude from those stories in 2003.”
References
Dreger, Alice (2008). The Controversy Surrounding The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History of the Politics of Science, Identity, and Sex in the Internet Age. Archives of Sexual Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9301-1
Dreger, Alice (2015). Galileo’s Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and One Scholar’s Search for Justice. Penguin Books ISBN 978-0143108115
Resources
Muckrack (muckrack.com)
Christine McGinn is an American plastic surgeon based in Pennsylvania.
Background
Christine Noelle McGinn was born May 31, 1969 and grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. McGinn earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Moravian College in 1991, followed by a medical degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1995. McGinn then joined the United States Navy, Naval Aerospace Medicine Institute US Naval Flight Surgery Training.
McGinn made a gender transition starting in 2000.
McGinn was a consultand on the 2015 film The Danish Girl and has appeared on Dr. Oz, CNN with Anderson Cooper, IAm Jazz, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Memberships:
- American Medical Association
- American Osteopathic Association
- American College of Osteopathic Surgeons
- Society of United States Naval Flight Surgeons
- Aerospace Medical Association
- World Professional Association for Transgender Health
- Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
- Society for the Scientific Study of Sex
- Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists
References
Savana, Freda (March 5, 2016). Dr. Christine McGinn brings unique experience to Papillion Gender Wellness Center. PhillyBurbs https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/2016/03/06/dr-christine-mcginn-brings-unique/18154898007/
Perez, Medardo (July 31, 2017). Ex-Navy Surgeon Promises Free Surgery for Transgender Troops. NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/ex-navy-surgeon-promises-free-surgery-transgender-troops-n788126
Resources
Papillon Gender Wellness Center (drchristinemcginn.com)
