Dear young trans lesbians,
Just sos you know, there have been trans lesbians since forever – in fact a large portion, maybe even a majority, of trans discourse (and queer discourse on trans people) since the 1970s has revolved around trans lesbians due to the radical feminist responses to them (see: Olivia Records, Sandy Stone’s The Empire Strikes Back, Transsexual Empire, Beth Elliott and the Daughters of Bilitis, MichFest and Camp Trans et al.). There was a radical trans lesbian experimental film that discussed (in slightly different language) almost exactly the politics a lot of y'all are talking about today called Gender Troublemakers made in 1993 by then-girlfriends Mirha-Soleil Ross (as Jeanne B.) and the late Xanthra MacKay. The two of them also produced a trans punk zine called Gendertrash From Hell around the same time, some issues of which are available online. There’s a whole bunch of trans lez literature out there (poetry by Trish Salah comes to mind, and of course Nevada by Imogen Binnie). Sylvia Rivera herself, patron saint of the trans movement, may not have identified as a lesbian but was in a relationship with a woman.
I saw someone post today that they didn’t even know trans lesbians were a thing except very recently, and I guess that’s a failure on the part of those from my generation and above who haven’t passed down enough history. So here’s some history for you.
There’s also Carol Riddell who was active in radical feminist organizing in Britain in the 1970′s