Louis Graydon Sullivan ("Lou")
Age 39 (born 16 Jun 1951)2 Mar 1991
San Francisco, California (USA)
HIV/AIDS
Lou was an author and activist known for his work on behalf of trans men. He was one of the the first trans men to publicly identify as gay, and died from HIV/AIDS complications.
Sullivan was a pioneer of the grassroots female-to-male (FTM) movement and was instrumental in helping individuals obtain peer-support, counselling, endocrinological services and reconstructive surgery outside of gender dysphoria clinics. He founded FTM International, one of the first organizations specifically for FTM individuals, and his activism and community work was a significant contributor to the rapid growth of the FTM community during the late 1980s.
Sullivan lobbied the American Psychiatric Association and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health for them to recognize his existence as a gay trans man. He was determined to change people's attitudes towards trans gay men but also to change the medical process of transition by removing sexual orientation from the criteria of gender identity disorder so that trans men who are gay could also access hormones and surgery, essentially making the process "orientation blind".
In 1987, Sullivan was diagnosed with AIDS and had to wage a new battle to educate medical professionals on how trans AIDS patients should be supported. In his journal, Sullivan wrote,
“You told me I couldn’t live as a gay man, but now I am going to die like one."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Sullivan
https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS16564
https://www.glbthistory.org/primary-source-set-lou-sullivan
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/09/obituaries/lou-sullivan-overlooked.html
https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2018/5/21/lou-sullivan
https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/col/j6731380t
https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/11/05/lou-sullivan-youngman-diaries-gay-trans-man/
https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/lou-sullivan
http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/man-i-fest/exhibit/aids
https://medium.com/queer-history-for-the-people/lou-sullivan-gay-transgender-pioneer-3881eb96e035
https://pbswisconsin.org/watch/wisconsin-pride/lou-sullivan-x3cqzu/
