Leslie Feinberg (September 1, 1949 – November 15, 2014) was an American

butch lesbian Butch is most often a term used to describe a lesbian, or sometimes a bisexual woman, who exhibits a masculine identity. Since the lesbian subculture of 1940s America, "butch" has been present as a way for lesbians to circumvent traditional gen ...

transgender activist The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health ...

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

, and author. Feinberg authored ''

Stone Butch Blues ''Stone Butch Blues'' is a historical fiction novel written by Leslie Feinberg about life as a butch lesbian in 1970s America. While fictional, the work also takes inspiration from Feinberg's own life, and she described it as her "call to action. ...

'' in 1993.''Violence and the body: race, gender, and the state''
Arturo J. Aldama; Indiana University Press, 2003; .Omnigender: A trans-religious approach
Virginia R. Mollenkott, Pilgrim Press, 2001; .Gay & lesbian literature, Volume 2
Sharon Malinowski, Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast; St. James Press, 1998; . writing, notably ''Stone Butch Blues'' and pioneering non-fiction book ''

Transgender Warriors ''Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman'', published in 1996, is an autobiographicalSchwartz, Patricia Roth. "Reviews: Transgender." Lambda Book Report, vol. 5, no. 2, Aug. 1996, p. 32. popular historyReview of '' ...

'' (1996), laid the groundwork for much of the terminology and awareness around

gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...

and was instrumental in bringing these issues to a more mainstream audience.Feinberg, Leslie (1997) ''Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman'' Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. Feinberg, Leslie (2009)
Transgender Warriors
" summary at
Feinberg's Official Website
''. Accessed October 19, 2015

Early life

Feinberg was born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

and raised in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

in a working-class,

Jewish family Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites"" ...

. At fourteen years old, began work at a display sign shop at a local department store. Feinberg eventually dropped out of Bennett High School, though officially received a diploma. Feinberg began frequenting

gay bars A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term '' gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once serv ...

in Buffalo and primarily worked in low-wage and temporary jobs, including washing dishes, cleaning cargo ships, working as an ASL interpreter, inputting medical data, and working at a PVC pipe factory and a book bindery.

Career

When Feinberg was in twenties, met members of the

Workers World Party The Workers World Party (WWP) is a revolutionary Marxist–Leninist communist party founded in 1959 by a group led by Sam Marcy of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Marcy and his followers split from the SWP in 1958 over a series of long-stan ...

at a demonstration for the land rights and self-determination of Palestinians and joined the Buffalo branch of the party. After moving to New York City, Feinberg took part in anti-war, anti-racist, and pro-labor demonstrations on behalf of the party for many years, including the March Against Racism (Boston, 1974), a national tour about HIV/AIDS (1983–84), and a mobilization against KKK members (Atlanta, 1988). Feinberg began writing in the 1970s. As a member of the

, was the editor of the

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...

s page of the ''

Workers World The Workers World Party (WWP) is a revolutionary Marxist–Leninist communist party founded in 1959 by a group led by Sam Marcy of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Marcy and his followers split from the SWP in 1958 over a series of long-stan ...

'' newspaper for fifteen years, and by 1995, had become the managing editor. Feinberg's first novel, the 1993 ''

'', won the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

and the 1994 American Library Association Gay & Lesbian Book Award. While there are parallels to Feinberg's experiences as a working-class dyke, the work is not an autobiography. second novel, ''Drag King Dreams'', was released in 2006.Feinberg, Leslie (2006).''Drag King Dreams''. New York: Carroll & Graf. . nonfiction work included the books ''Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come'' in 1992 and ''Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman'' in 1996. Also in 1996, Feinberg appeared in

Rosa von Praunheim Holger Bernhard Bruno Mischwitzky (born Holger Radtke; 25 November 1942), known professionally as Rosa von Praunheim, is a German film director, author, painter and one of the most famous gay rights activists in the German-speaking world. In ov ...

's documentary, ''

Transexual Menace The Transexual Menace, or The Menace, was a transgender rights activist organization founded in New York City in 1993. It was the first direct action group of its kind, and grew to be a national organisation with 24 chapters. History and activiti ...

''. In 2009, released ''Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba''—a compilation of 25 journalistic articles. In ''Transgender Warriors'', Feinberg defines "

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

" as a very broad umbrella, including all "people who cross the cultural boundaries of gender"—including butch dykes, passing women (those who passed as men only in order to find work or survive during war), and

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

s. Feinberg's writings on

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

history, "Lavender & Red", frequently appeared in the ''Workers World'' newspaper. Feinberg was awarded an honorary doctorate from

Starr King School for the Ministry Starr King School for the Ministry is a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Oakland, California. The seminary was formed in 1904 to educate leaders for the growing number of progressive religious communities in the western part of the US. The scho ...

for transgender and social justice work. In June 2019 Feinberg was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the

Stonewall National Monument Stonewall National Monument is a U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The designated area includes the Stonewall Inn, the Christopher Park, and nearby streets including ...

(SNM) in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall, is a gay bar and recreational tavern in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which is widely considered to be the sin ...

. The SNM is the first

U.S. national monument In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the President of the United States or an act of Congress. National monuments prot ...

dedicated to LGBTQ rights and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of ...

Illness

In 2008, Feinberg was diagnosed with

Lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a vector-borne disease caused by the '' Borrelia'' bacterium, which is spread by ticks in the genus '' Ixodes''. The most common sign of infection is an expanding red rash, known as erythema ...

, a

tick-borne disease Tick-borne diseases, which afflict humans and other animals, are caused by infectious agents transmitted by tick bites. They are caused by infection with a variety of pathogens, including rickettsia and other types of bacteria, viruses, and proto ...

(multiple tick-borne infections). Feinberg wrote that the infections first came about in the 1970s, when there was limited knowledge related to such diseases and that felt hesitant to deal with medical professionals for many years due to transgender identity. For these reasons, only received treatment later in life. In the 2000s, Feinberg created art and blogged about illnesses with a focus on disability art and

class consciousness In Marxism, class consciousness is the set of beliefs that a person holds regarding their social class or economic rank in society, the structure of their class, and their class interests. According to Karl Marx, it is an awareness that is key to ...

Pronoun usage

Feinberg stated in a 2006 interview that

pronouns In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun ( abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not ...

varied depending on context: Feinberg's widow wrote in statement regarding Feinberg's death that Feinberg did not really care which pronouns a person used to address : "She preferred to use the pronouns /zie and /hir for herself, but also said: 'I care which pronoun is used, but people have been respectful to me with the wrong pronoun and disrespectful with the right one. It matters whether someone is using the pronoun as a bigot, or if they are trying to demonstrate respect.

Personal life

Feinberg described herself as "an

anti-racist Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

white, working-class, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian, female, revolutionary communist." According to Julie Enszner, a friend of Feinberg's, Feinberg sometimes "passed" as a man for safety reasons. Feinberg's spouse, Minnie Bruce Pratt, is a professor at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city' ...

. Feinberg and Pratt married in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

in 2011. In the mid and late 1990s they attended

Camp Trans Camp Trans was the name of an annual demonstration and event held outside the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (MWMF or Michfest) in Oceana County, Michigan. This demonstration was held by transgender women and their allies to protest against th ...

together. Feinberg died on November 15, 2014, of complications due to multiple tick-borne infections, including "Lyme disease, babeisiosis, and protomyxzoa rheumatica", which had suffered from since the 1970s. Feinberg's last words were reported to be, "Hasten the revolution! Remember me as a revolutionary communist."

Books

* ''Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come''. World View Forum, 1992. . * ''

''. San Francisco: Firebrand Books, 1993. . * '' Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman''. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. . * ''Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue''. Beacon Press, 1999. * ''Drag King Dreams''. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2006. . * ''Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba''. New York: World View Forum, 2009. .

References

External links

Transgender Warrior, Leslie Feinberg's Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feinberg, Leslie 1949 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American novelists American political writers Jewish American novelists Jewish activists Jewish socialists Lambda Literary Award winners Stonewall Book Award winners American lesbian writers LGBT Jews American LGBT novelists LGBT people from Missouri American LGBT rights activists Secular Jews Transgender writers Workers World Party politicians 20th-century American women writers American women novelists Writers from Kansas City, Missouri Writers from Buffalo, New York American communists Communist women writers Transgender Jews LGBT people from New York (state) Novelists from Missouri American women non-fiction writers Jewish anti-racism activists Jewish women writers