Leslie Feinberg

Leslie Feinberg (September 1, 1949 – November 15, 2014) was a revolutionary transgender activist who identified as an anti-racist white, working-class, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian, female, revolutionary communist. She used zie/hir and she/her pronouns.

Feinberg was the opening speaker at the historic rally on the 25th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall rally in New York City-a rally that drew one million people from across the country and around the world. A video about Leslie Feinberg entitled Outlaw has been distributed by Women Make Movies nationally and internationally. Feinberg's novel, Stone Butch Blues, published on March 1, 1993 by Firebrand Books, has received a wildly popular response in the United States and has been translated into Chinese, German, Italian, Dutch, Turkish, Slovenian and Hebrew. The novel won the prestigious American Library Association Award for Gay and Lesbian Literature and a LAMBDA Literary Award (Leslie Feinberg).

Zie also wrote multiple books, starting with Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to RuPaul. It was the first "analysis of the historical roots of transgender oppression (Leslie Feinberg)." The book won the 1996 Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Non-Fiction, and in 1996, the paperback edition was released under "Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman". This book also contained speeches and/or memoirs by other transgender activists.

Drag King Dreams, Feinberg's second published novel, was released by Carroll & Graf (Avalon) in March 2006. Feinberg, being the national leader of the Workers World Party - also a managing editor of Workers World newpaper - was well-known as a person who helped with forming a strong connection between the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other LGBT+ communities, and also worked to build strong bonds of unity between minorities; acknowledging the struggles they (these minorities - of race, sexuality, ability, class, nationalities, etc) face, yet also at the same time in defense of them.

Zie passed away in November 15, 2014, from multiple tick-borne co-infections, including Lyme disease, babeisiosis, and protomyxzoa rheumatica. She died at home in Syracuse, NY, with hir partner and spouse of 22 years, Minnie Bruce Pratt, at hir side. Hir last words were: “Remember me as a revolutionary communist."