history

10-5-1513: Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovered what he claimed was a colony of cross-dressing males in present day Panama.

10-6-1968: 12 people in Los Angeles gathered for the first service of Metropolitan Community Church. Rev Troy Perry founded the church with a primary outreach to the GLBT community.

10-10-1915: Jennie Hodgers a FTM - AKA, Albert D. J. Cashier died. After serving with the Union Army and living the rest of his life as a man, his physical sex was discovered during an illness and was committed to the Wartertown State Hospital for the Insane where was forced to wear a dress for the first time in more than 50 years. He died two years after his commitment was buried with full military honors.

10-12-1896: The play "A Florida Enchantment" was reviewed in the New York Times. Some of the characters swallowed a magic seed which transformed them into members of the opposite sex. It was described as vile, stupid, and the worst play ever produced in
New York.

10-12-1915: Albert D. J. Cashier (born Jennie Hodgers) was laid to rest. He was buried in his Union Uniform and given full military honors. His headstone reads, "Albert D. J. Cashier, Co. 6, 95 Ill. Inf."

10-17-1998: Melinda Whiteway was appointed co-chair of the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association, making her the first self-identified transgendered person to co-chair a national gay and lesbian organization.

10-19-1996: Representatives of the American Psychiatric Association met with approximately fifty transgender activists who voiced their concerns about reforming the diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder.

10-19-99: A Canadian lesbian organization was ordered to pay $2,030 in damages for banning a transgendered person from its drop-in center.

10-19-1945: Divine, the cross-dressing actor was born

10-21-1939: In New York, police raided a masked drag ball and arrested 99 men and charged them with masquerading as females.

10-23-1993: In Helena Montana the state Supreme Court ruled that crossdressing was not a sufficient reason to deny a father joint custody of his 3-year old child.

10-25-1783: At West Point, Deborah Sampson was honorably discharged from the Massachusetts Regiment. S/he had lived full time as a man for almost 1 1/2 years and formed attachments with several women. S/he later received a military pension.

10-26-1962: Police raided a drag ball in New York City. Dozens were arrested on charges of indecent exposure.

10-26-1973: Gay Youth activist Mark Segal interrupted The Today Show to protest stereotypical portrayals of gays on NBC. It was his third arrest.

10-26-1990: A U.S. Army colonel was discharged and sentenced to 90 days in Leavenworth for appearing in drag at an AIDS benefit and kissing another man.

10-29-1995: In Iran, a 31year old man was convicted of "ugly and improper conduct" and sentenced to twenty lashes for crossdressing.