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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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 :(
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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…
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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.
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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.