About the Book
A unique first-hand account of a historical gay trans man's whole life, which reads like a celebratory coming-of-age novel.
Lou kept candid diaries from the age of 10. Through these extracts, we hear Lou's life 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 an activist, author, and archivist.
Lou navigated his identity with few role models and was perhaps the first publicly gay transgender man. 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. After he was diagnosed with HIV in 1986, he remarked that he had been told by clinics that 'it was impossible for me to live as a gay man, but it looks like I'm gonna die like one.'
This selection shows Lou's joyous love of life, men, and sex.
* LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD WINNER *
* PUBLISHING TRIANGLE FINALIST *
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SUSAN STRYKER
'Chatty and tender, casually poetic and voraciously sexual-Sullivan workshopped his identity and his relationships, committing to the page an interior monologue of self-discovery that paralleled the gay-liberation movement, the burgeoning transgender-rights movement, and the aids crisis... Given how many contemporary trans narratives are rooted in trauma, their choice to foreground trans pleasure and sensuality is celebratory, even radical' The New Yorker
About the Author :
Lou Sullivan (Author)
Louis Graydon Sullivan (1951-91) was a writer, activist, typesetter, trans historian, and queer revolutionary. The Gay People's Union featured Sullivan's earliest writings in their newsletter including the now widely-quoted "A Transvestite Answers a Feminist". Though through his transition, many medical professionals he met had never heard of a female-to-gay-male, Sullivan resisted lying about his sexuality, a commitment which became a major aspect of his activism and legacy. Sullivan published Information for the FTM (a practical guidebook) and organized the first peer-support group for trans men. When Sullivan was diagnosed with HIV, he decided two main goals: to publish a biography of Jack Bee Garland and to publish his own diaries. He was only able to complete the former in his lifetime. Sullivan left 8.4 cubic feet of archival material from his life and studies to the GLBT Historical Society, of which he was a founding member.
Zach Ozma (External Editor)
Zach Ozma is a poet, potter, and social practice artist. Embodiment theory, archival research, and neo-classically gay imagery inform his practice. Employing mimesis, pedagogy, humor, surprise, and reward, he works in a variety of materials including ceramics, found objects, performance, writing, and works on paper. He is the author of BLACK DOG DRINKING FROM AN OUTDOOR POOL (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019). He holds a BFA in Community Arts from California College of the Arts in Oakland. Ozma lives and works in the Philadelphia area.
Ellis Martin (External Editor)
Ellis Martin works with digital derivatives in the interstice of art and archive. Martin holds a BA in Visual and Critical Studies from Mills College. He has generated large-scale digitization projects at Mills College Art Museum, John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives, and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society. At GLBTHS he was the Digitization Project Archivist for the Bay Area Reporter project, a collection of 1,514 back issues from 1971 to 2005 now accessible on the Internet Archive. His short films have screened at San Francisco Transgender Film Festival and Trans Stellar Film Festival.
Review :
Celebratory, even radical
Monumental
Lou is an open-book mystery, a man who built bridges of access, a gentle soul with whom I share similar demons
This finely edited collection pulls out threads like gender self-determination, illicit queer sexual desire, and relationship woes that span his entire life. The volume reads like an open letter written for future queer trans people longing to understand their identities and experiences across time and space
This is a great book by a great person...If I am perhaps too glowing in my praise of Lou, that's probably because I can't physically imagine myself without him
It feels like a gift to be able to read such a complete and evocative record of a life spent in pursuit of joy
This Trans Day of Remembrance, if you're in need of a little joy, a little reconnection with life, a little reminder of how we can fight for our own happiness, this is a volume to pick up
Lou Sullivan was a visionary, a leader, and clearly one of the most significant trans figures of the late 20th century
The intimate details of Lou's life shared in his journals lay bare just how human he was. Lou transgressed the limited thinking of his era, the restrictions of his body, and even a terminal diagnosis to leave a legacy of self-determination that resounds beyond the trans masculine community he sought to empower. This collection continues Lou's legacy of knowledge-sharing and brings a oft-overlooked pioneer into sharp focus.
