Leslie Feinberg

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Leslie Feinberg (September 1, 1949 – November 15, 2014) was an American butch lesbian, transgender activist, communist,<ref name="transwarrior">Template:Cite web</ref> and author.<ref name="advocate">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=NYT>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=LAT>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=workersID>Template:Cite web</ref> Feinberg authored Stone Butch Blues in 1993.<ref name="books.google.com">Violence and the body: race, gender, and the state Template:Webarchive Arturo J. Aldama; Indiana University Press, 2003; Template:ISBN.</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Omnigender: A trans-religious approach Template:Webarchive Virginia R. Mollenkott, Pilgrim Press, 2001; Template:ISBN.</ref><ref name="Gay & lesbian literature, Volume 2">Gay & lesbian literature, Volume 2 Template:Webarchive Sharon Malinowski, Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast; St. James Press, 1998; Template:ISBN.</ref> Template:As writtenTemplate:Efn writing, notably Stone Butch Blues and Template:As written pioneering popular history book Transgender Warriors (1996), laid the groundwork for much of the terminology and awareness around gender studies and was instrumental in bringing these issues to a more mainstream audience.<ref name=NYT/><ref name=LAT/><ref name=TW>Feinberg, Leslie (1997) Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name=TWweb>Feinberg, Leslie (2009) "Transgender Warriors Template:Webarchive" summary at Feinberg's Official Website Template:Webarchive. Accessed October 19, 2015</ref>

Early life

Feinberg was born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in Buffalo, New York in a working-class, Jewish family. At fourteen years old, Template:As written began work at a display sign shop at a local department store. Feinberg eventually dropped out of Bennett High School, though Template:As written officially received a diploma. Feinberg began frequenting gay bars in Buffalo and primarily worked in low-wage and temporary jobs, including washing dishes, cleaning cargo ships, working as a sign-language interpreter, inputting medical data, and working at a PVC pipe factory and a book bindery.<ref name=PersonalSite>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

When Feinberg was in Template:As written twenties, Template:As written met members of the Workers World Party 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).<ref name=PersonalSite/>

Feinberg began writing in the 1970s. As a member of the Workers World Party, Template:As written was the editor of the political prisoners page of the Workers World newspaper for fifteen years, and by 1995, Template:As written had become the managing editor.<ref name=PersonalSite/><ref>"Leslie Feinberg: New book, birthday celebrated" Template:Webarchive, LeiLani Dowell, September 9, 2009.</ref><ref>"Leftist transgender activist defies university censorship" Template:Webarchive, Larry Hales, LeiLani Dowell; Ft. Collins, Colo.; April 27, 2005.</ref>

Feinberg's first novel, the 1993 Stone Butch Blues, won the Lambda Literary Award and the 1994 American Library Association Gay & Lesbian Book Award (now called the Stonewall Book Award).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While there are parallels to Feinberg's experiences as a working-class dyke, the work is not an autobiography.<ref name="books.google.com"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Gay & lesbian literature, Volume 2"/> Template:As written second novel, Drag King Dreams, was released in 2006.<ref name=DKD>Feinberg, Leslie (2006).Drag King Dreams. New York: Carroll & Graf. Template:ISBN.</ref>

Template:As written 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's documentary, Transexual Menace.<ref name="TransexualMenace">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2009, Template:As written released Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba—a compilation of 25 journalistic articles.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In Transgender Warriors, Feinberg suggests that the term "transgender" was commonly used in two different ways. It served as an umbrella term encompassing anyone who questions or challenges traditional ideas of sex and gender. Additionally, it referred specifically to the distinction between individuals who change the sex assigned to them at birth and those whose gender expression is seen as not aligning with societal expectations for their sex.<ref name=TW/>

Feinberg's writings on LGBT history, "Lavender & Red", frequently appeared in the Workers World newspaper. Feinberg was awarded an honorary doctorate from Starr King School for the Ministry for transgender and social justice work.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Feinberg was outspoken about her support for Palestinians. In a 2007 speech given to the first public conference of Aswat, an organization for LGBT Palestinian women, in Haifa in 2007, Feinberg said, "I am with Palestinian liberation with every breath in my body; every muscle and every sinew."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2006<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> interview with Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore about Drag King Dreams, Feinberg said of her novel's Jewish characters, "for Heshie and Max, this question of the occupation of Palestine goes to the heart of what it means to live an authentic life in a period in which this really historical crime is taking place in their name."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 (SNM) in New York City's Stonewall Inn.<ref name=":23">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="SDGLN">Template:Cite web</ref> The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Illness

In 2008, Feinberg was diagnosed with Lyme disease. She wrote that the infection first came about in the 1970s, when there was limited knowledge related to such diseases and that Template:As written felt hesitant to deal with medical professionals for many years due to Template:As written transgender identity. For this reason, Template:As written only received treatment later in life. In the 2000s, Feinberg created art and blogged about Template:As written illnesses with a focus on disability art and class consciousness.<ref name=PersonalSite/>

Personal life

Feinberg described herself as "an anti-racist white, working-class, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian, female, revolutionary communist."<ref name="advocate"/><ref name=LAT/><ref name=workersID/>

According to Julie Enszer, a friend of Feinberg's, Feinberg sometimes "passed" as a man for safety reasons.<ref name="NYT" />

Feinberg's spouse, Minnie Bruce Pratt, was a professor at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Feinberg and Pratt married in New York and Massachusetts in 2011.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the mid and late 1990s they attended Camp Trans together.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Reference page Excerpts from Feinberg's 1994 speech at Camp Trans appear in the Winter 1995 issue of TransSisters: The Journal of Transsexual Feminism.<ref name=":0" />Template:Reference page The journal reported that during her introduction to security at the festival, Feinberg presented that "although she was born with female anatomy and still identifies as a woman and as a lesbian that she also identifies as transgendered, that she passes as a man, is frequently mistaken for a man, that her driver's license lists her sex as male, and that sometimes she and her lover pass as a heterosexual couple".<ref name=":0" />Template:Reference page

Feinberg died on November 15, 2014, of complications due to multiple tick-borne infections, including "Lyme disease, babeisiosis, and protomyxzoa rheumatica", which Template:As written had suffered from since the 1970s.<ref name="advocate" /><ref name="home website">Template:Cite web</ref> Feinberg's last words were reported to be, "Hasten the revolution! Remember me as a revolutionary communist."<ref name="advocate"/>

Pronoun usage

Feinberg stated in a 2006 interview that Template:As written pronouns varied depending on context:

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Feinberg's widow wrote in Template:As written statement regarding Feinberg's death that Feinberg did not really careTemplate:Contradictory inline which pronouns a person used to address Template:As written: "She preferred to use the pronouns Template:As written/zie and Template:As written/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.Template:'"<ref name=workersID/>

Books

See also

Notes

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References

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Further reading

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