Contributions and Distinctions
Susan Stryker helped create the field of transgender studies. She co-founded Transgender Nation, an activist group for trans rights, wrote Transgender History, a book that introduces modern transgender history in the U.S. Stryker also co-edited the Transgender Studies Reader, a collection of key essays in the field, and started TSQ, a journal on transgender culture and studies. She produced award-winning documentaries, including Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria. Stryker also served as executive director of the GLBT Historical Society, preserving LGBTQ+ history. Her work combines activism, teaching, and writing, earning awards such as the Transgender Law Center Community Vanguard Award.
Biographical Sketch
Susan Stryker (1961- present) grew up in Oklahoma knowing she was a girl, though she was assigned male at birth, and came out publicly as a transgender woman in the late 1980s. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1983 and her Ph.D. in United States History from UC Berkeley in 1992. That same year, she co-founded Transgender Nation, one of the first activist groups for trans rights. Stryker has taught at the University of Arizona and Mills College in Oakland, using her teaching and scholarship to empower the trans community and expand awareness of transgender history and culture.