28 Facts About Lou Sullivan

Louis Graydon Sullivan was an American author and activist known for his work on behalf of trans men.

Lou Sullivan 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.

Lou Sullivan grew up in Milwaukee, the third child of six in a very religious Catholic family and attended Catholic primary and secondary school.

Lou Sullivan was attracted to the idea of playing different gender roles, and his attraction for male roles was outlined in his writings, specifically in his short stories, poems and diaries; he often explored the ideas of male homosexuality and gender identity.

In 1973, Lou Sullivan was working as a secretary in the Slavic Languages department of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Lou Sullivan joined the Gay People's Union, which was hosted at the university, and first identified himself as a "female transvestite" by publishing an article in the group's newsletter.

Lou Sullivan moved to San Francisco in 1975 with his longtime partner, a cisgender man.

Lou Sullivan's family was supportive of the move and gave him "a handsome man's suit and [his] grandfather's pocket watch" as going-away presents.

Dain and Lou Sullivan were able to meet in 1979, Dain encouraging Lou Sullivan to proceed with transitioning.

Lou Sullivan had a double mastectomy surgery following a year later.

Lou Sullivan then left his previous job to work as an engineering technician at the Atlantic-Ritchfield Company so that he could fully embrace his new identity as a man with new co-workers.

Lou Sullivan was diagnosed as HIV positive shortly after his surgery, and told he only had 10 months to live.

Lou Sullivan was the first known case of a trans man developing AIDS.

Lou Sullivan survived for five, in reasonably good health until the very end.

Lou Sullivan kept a journal throughout his life: though he had hoped to edit and publish his own diaries before his death, he was unable to, and selected excerpts were released in 2019 as We Both Laughed in Pleasure, edited by Ellis Martin and Zach Ozma.

In 1980, Lou Sullivan began volunteering at the Janus Information Facility, a transgender counseling and education resource that had taken over services from the Erickson Educational Foundation in 1977.

Lou Sullivan was the first FTM peer counselor at the facility and worked directly with gender-questioning clients who were AFAB; in 1980, Sullivan published one of the first guidebooks for transgender men, "Information for the Female-to-Male Crossdresser and Transsexual", which drew on his experiences volunteering at Janus and included some of his earlier publications in the newsletter of the Gay People's Union in Milwaukee.

The guidebook was re-published several times, Lou Sullivan worked on the third edition in his final years, calling it "the most important thing" he ever did.

Lou Sullivan published a biography of the San Francisco-based transgender writer, Jack Bee Garland in 1990.

Lou Sullivan is credited for being the first to discuss the eroticism of men's clothing.

Lou Sullivan was a founding member and board member of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco.

In 1986, Lou Sullivan began hosting quarterly get-togethers for FTM people in San Francisco to offer resources, education, and community.

In February of 1991, shortly before his death, Lou Sullivan made plans for Jamison Green, an early member of the group, to take over the publication.

Lou Sullivan was a writer and capable of standing up for what he saw as truth.

Lou Sullivan was a gay transsexual man, before this was even allowed or recognized.

Lou Sullivan is remembered as being instrumental in demonstrating the existence of trans men who were themselves attracted to men, which he did by lobbying the American Psychiatric Association and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

In June 2019, Lou Sullivan was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument in New York City's Stonewall Inn.

In 2017, Brice Smith published a biography of Sullivan, Lou Sullivan: Daring to Be a Man Among Men.