Beyond Exclusion: New Narratives of Lesbian and Trans Entanglements in the 1970s

Abstract

This dissertation, titled “Beyond Exclusion: New Narratives of Lesbian and Trans Entanglements in the 1970s,” recovers narratives of the varied and complex relationships between U.S. lesbian and trans communities during the 1970s. Contesting dominant narratives that either absent trans people from lesbian history or characterize lesbians prior to the twenty-first century as monolithically transphobic, this dissertation shows that trans women were present in lesbian communities in the 1970s and made important contributions to lesbian-feminist culture and thought while simultaneously adopting radical feminist ideas to help shape their own visions of trans womanhood. Meanwhile, while transphobic ideas certainly were present in lesbian feminist communities and gained traction amongst some groups, causing grave harm to trans lesbians, these ideas were constantly contested and were understood by many lesbians at the time to be minority opinions. Through study of multiracial lesbian spaces, I show how lesbian of color critique laid the foundation for trans-inclusive and anti-bioessentialist lesbian formations, and, concurrently, how racism and white racial anxiety played a role in hardening lines of trans exclusion in some spaces. Ultimately, I argue that the histories of lesbian transfeminisms and lesbian transphobias are bound up in one another. Intellectual critique, on all sides of these debates, was shaped by material concerns and specific interpersonal dynamics within intimate community spaces; the history of lesbian feminist thought is also a history of friendships, feuds, shared spaces, and shared resources. This dissertation examines both nationally discussed events within the world of lesbian feminist music production and local community dynamics in Philadelphia and Boston. I employ oral history methods, cultural analysis, and archival research, with a focus on lesbian magazines and newsletters, to document these narratives. Ultimately, this dissertation shows that trans people are not just present within lesbian history but crucial to it. The unexpected stories of their participation in lesbian culture during the 1970s illuminates a new picture of trans and lesbian entanglement: one that is more complicated, more lively, and (most importantly) more true.