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Della Aleksander

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Transgender rights activist and fascist

Della Aleksander (1923–2001) was a teacher and campaigner for trans rights. She was a co-producer of an episode of the current affairs programme Open Door, which was the first to feature trans women. She was a member of fascist organisations, such as the League of St George.

Biography

Born in 1923, in 1970 she went to Casablanca for gender alignment surgery. She described how it wasn't until she took hormone therapy that she felt herself to be transexual. In 1971 she established Gender Research Association International Liaison (GRAIL).

Moonshadow 1973, 12: p.5 reports on Open Door and Aleksander

Aleksander launched a magazine entitled Two for One, which addressed trans issues. She was a member of the Transsexual Liberation Group (TLG). In 1973 she co-produced and co-presented an episode of the current affairs programme Open Door, which gave four trans women from the TLG a platform to discuss NHS care and societal attitudes to trans issues. The programme was first broadcast on 2 June 1973. The other women on the programme were Rachel Bowen, Jan Ford and Laura Palet. Aleksander wrote a comment piece for Gay News after the programme, myth-busting some trans issues. In 1974 she spoke at The First National TV TS Conference held at the University of Leeds.

Aleksander was associated with far right politics, and in 1995 Searchlight described her as "one of postwar Britain's best-known Mosleyites". She was a pupil of Roger Scruton's at Birkbeck College and was a member of the League of St George. As a member of the league she met with white supremacist David Duke in 1978 in Belgium, along with other British fascists. She died in 2001.

References

  1. ^ Searchlight (235–246 ed.). Searchlight Publications. 1995.
  2. ^ Caslin, Sam (2024-01-15). "Trans feminism and the women's liberation movement in Britain, c . 1970–1980". Gender & History. doi:10.1111/1468-0424.12767. ISSN 0953-5233.
  3. ^ "England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZF-5GFK : 27 October 2021), Della Joan S Aleksander, 2001.
  4. ^ Ekins, Richard; King, Dave (2006-10-23). The Transgender Phenomenon. SAGE. pp. 3, 44. ISBN 978-1-84787-726-0.
  5. Brierley, Harry (2013-10-22). Transvestism: A Handbook with Case Studies for Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Counsellors. Elsevier. pp. 14, 235. ISBN 978-1-4831-8219-3.
  6. Saunders, Nicholas (1971). Alternative London. N. Saunders. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-9501628-1-2.
  7. Megarry, Daniel (2018-07-31). "Watch a historical BBC documentary about trans women from 45 years ago". GAY TIMES. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  8. ^ Smith, Lydia (2018-07-27). "Trans women discussed trans rights on the BBC 45 years ago - here's what it looked like". PinkNews. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  9. "BBC - History of the BBC, Open Door". BBC. 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  10. Aleksander, Della (1973). "Sex Change - From the Inside". Gay News. p. 8. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  11. "GENDYS Journal - The First UK Transgender Conferences, 1974 and 1975". 2023-05-12. Archived from the original on 2023-05-12. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
  12. "Right Wheel". The Observer. 12 April 1983.
  13. West, E. James (2021-01-02). "Hunt the Wizard! Race, Immigration, and British Tabloid Coverage of David Duke's 1978 Tour". Contemporary British History. 35 (1): 100–124. doi:10.1080/13619462.2020.1856081. ISSN 1361-9462.

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