Before Gender with Eli Erlick

Explore the trailblazing lives of 30 trans people who radically change everything you’ve been told about transgender history.

Phoenix Books is thrilled to be hosting Eli Erlick for a discussion of her new book, Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850-1950! 

Eli Erlick is an internationally acclaimed activist, author, and educator. In 2011, she founded Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER), a national organization dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans students. In the years that followed, Erlick has been at the forefront of social justice issues through her research, organizing, and cultural criticism. Blending innovative research with cutting-edge activism, she undertook her doctoral studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Erlick’s work and writing have been featured in hundreds of outlets including the New York Times, Time Magazine, and the Washington Post. She lives in New York City, where she continues to fight for trans liberation. 

About the book:

Highlighting influential individuals from 1850–1950 who are all but unknown today, Eli Erlick shares 30 remarkable stories from romance to rebellion and mystery to M**der. These narratives chronicle the grit, joy, and survival of trans people long before gender became an everyday term.

Organized into 4 parts paralleling today’s controversies over gender identity (kids, activists, workers, and athletes), Before Gender introduces figures whose forgotten stories transform the discussion:

• Mark and David Ferrow, 2 of the first trans teens to access gender-affirming medical treatment following overwhelming support from their friends, family, and neighbors
• Gerda von Zobeltitz, a trans countess who instigated an LGBTQ+ riot 40 years before Stonewall
• Frank Williams, a young trans man who was fired from over a dozen jobs for his gender
• Frances Anderson, the world’s greatest female billiards player of the 1910s

Bold and visionary, Erlick’s debut uncovers these lost stories from the depths of the archives to narrate trans lives in a way that has never been attempted before.

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