Surgery: From Top to Bottom

Timeline

1912: First sex reassignment surgery takes place in Berlin
1923: Magnus Hirschfeld coins the term transexualism and creates the first modern medical gender clinics.
1930: Magnus Hirschfeld helps Einer Wegener become Lili Elbe. Lili dies shortly after her fifth operation in 1931.
1942: Lawrence "Michael" Dillon, called the world's first transsexual man, begins taking hormones and has a double mastectomy.
1945: Michael Dillon becomes the first MTF to undergo sexual reassignment surgery.
May 15, 1951: Robert Cowell becomes Roberta Cowel, the first person in the United Kingdom to undergo full trans surgery.
December 1, 1952: Christine Jorgensen's sex reassignment surgery first gains media attention.
1966 Harry Benjamin publishes The Transsexual Phenomenon
1968: Universities begin to operate on non-intersex transsexuals
1973: Lou Sullivan starts dressing and passing as a man
1978: Lou Sullivan begins taking hormones

Letter to David 8/9/1990

8-9-90-page 1
8-9-90-page 2

Transition Photos

Unable to trust the medical community for advice, trans men often document their transition through photography. This not only provides documentation of an individual's transition, but it also allows other trans folk to imagine what their transition could look like. Below you will find photos of Lou Sullivan's transition. Donated to the GLBT Historical Society, which Lou helped to establish, Lou wanted his life and work to be able to mentor to GLBT individuals after his death. While some may use these photos inappropriately, in today's society where so much inaccurate information about transmen can be found on the internet, these photos continue to serve the educational purpose for which they were intended.