Author Brice D. Smith, left, spent years researching the life of trans pioneer Lou Sullivan, a Milwaukee native.
Wauwatosa author Brice D. Smith’s 14-year relationship with trans pioneer Lou Sullivan has been unconventional. The two never even met, because Sullivan died of AIDS in 1991 at age 39. But Smith’s own decision to transition from female to male was deeply influenced by the subject of his historical biography, Lou Sullivan: Daring To Be A Man Among Men (Transgress Press).
To research the book, Smith pored over decades of the trans trailblazer’s journals and correspondence. Sullivan, a Milwaukee native growing up in the 1970s and ’80s, confronted a society that told him he couldn’t exist as both gay and trans. At the time, so-called
transsexual people were fodder for sensational media coverage and talk shows. But through dogged determination, Sullivan became a role model for trans men and a poster boy for advancing understanding of the difference between gender and sexual orientation.
Smith, who will read from the biography at A Room of One’s Own at 6 p.m. on May 9, says Sullivan’s pioneering life shaped his own personal journey to manhood.
“I couldn’t shake what a visceral effect his story had on me. I was so frustrated that his biography didn’t exist that I decided to write it,” Smith says. He earned a doctorate in history with the intent of properly memorializing Sullivan.
Smith first encountered Sullivan’s story in 2004 while living as a lesbian and wrapping up a graduate degree in English at UW-Milwaukee. Smith wanted to write a paper about trans people, and in the school library’s limited selection of books, Sullivan was referenced frequently. As Smith questioned his own gender, Sullivan’s story of perseverance inspired him.
Sullivan found allies among Milwaukee’s gay rights groups before relocating to San Francisco in 1975 as the gay liberation movement was taking off. In his early 20s, Sullivan dressed as a man, but didn’t pass. In his journals, he battles with his sense of self, and ekes out his own identity — a homosexual trans man. Feeling at home in neither the gay nor trans communities, Sullivan worked up the courage to speak his truth at forums often dominated by trans women. Guided by a lifelong desire to help others, he threw himself into volunteer work, advocacy, education and mentorship, becoming a lifeline to trans men worldwide.
As Smith researched Sullivan’s life, he was resisting his own transition. Then he read a poignant letter Sullivan wrote to an ex-boyfriend. “He said, ‘If I were lying on my deathbed, I would regret not transitioning.’ And I got goosebumps all over my body. My answer was overwhelmingly ‘yes’ and I started transitioning,” Smith says. Now married, he’s the full-time father of a 3-year-old son — and a part-time historian.
In the book, Smith details the evolution of Sullivan’s lasting achievements. He wrote and published three editions of a widely circulated booklet called Information for the Female-to-Male Crossdresser and Transsexual, as well as an international newsletter, FTM (Female to Male). Working through a health system that considered him to be a confused lesbian, Sullivan was granted permission in the early 1980s to get top and bottom surgeries. Slowly, he convinced the medical establishment that he was indeed a gay trans man, opening a door for trans people and a broader understanding of sexuality.
Smith says Sullivan’s capacity for turning challenges into ways to benefit others created a counterpart to the “tragic trans narrative.” He is adapting the biography, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for books with LGBT themes, into a screenplay.
Editor's note: This article was corrected to reflect that Brice D. Smith lives in Wauwatosa, not Waukesha. Only in Wisconsin!