Lou Sullivan fut un militant et auteur pionnier, reconnu pour avoir établi la distinction moderne entre orientation sexuelle et identité de genre. Il fut une figure essentielle du mouvement de base des hommes trans, facilitant le soutien par les pairs, le conseil et les services médicaux en dehors des cliniques traditionnelles de dysphorie de genre. Sullivan fonda FTM International, l'une des premières organisations dédiées spécifiquement aux hommes trans, et fut déterminant dans la croissance de la communauté à la fin des années 1980. Son travail visait à modifier les perceptions envers les homosexuels trans et à réformer les processus médicaux de transition, plaidant pour un accès aux hormones et à la chirurgie indépendant de l'orientation sexuelle.
Drawn from Sullivan's meticulously kept journals, this landmark book records the life of arguably the first publicly gay trans man to medically transition. Sensual, lascivious, challenging, quotidian and poetic, the diaries complicate and disrupt normative trans narratives.
"Lou Sullivan kept candid diaries from the age of ten. Through these vivid extracts, we see Lou navigate his gay and trans identities in a world with few role models, and hear his eperiences in his own words: from 'playing boys' in his childhood in Wisconsin, to cruising San Francisco's gay bars for handsome 'youngmen'; from first hearing about gender non-conforming communities, to becoming a vital part of them as activist, author and archivist. Successfully campaigning to remove heterosexuality from the medical requirements for gender affirming surgery, Lou was pivotal in our modern understanding of gender and sexuality as distinct identities. This selection shows Lou's joyous love of life, men and sex."--Page 4 of printed paper wrapper.