‘Before We Were Trans’ explores a complicated history
‘Before We Were Trans’By Kit Heyamc.2022, Seal Press$30/352 pages Yes or no: before there were rockets, there were no astronauts.
No, there wasn’t a need for them without a vehicle to go where people only dreamed of going. But yes – the word “astronaut” is more than a century old.
Words and labels matter, as you’ll see in “Before We Were Trans” by Kit Heyam, and time is no excuse. BUY THE BOOK On the evening of June 8, 1847, John Sullivan was apprehended by gendarmes while weaving down a sidewalk in London.
Sullivan was wearing a few women’s garments, and was carrying more, all of it stolen. Because it wasn’t the first time he was arrested, he spent 10 years in an Australian penal colony for his crime. “Is this story a part of trans history?” asks Heyam.
