Lisa Oakley Oral History

Lisa Oakley was born in 1953 in Chicago, Illinois. For as long as she could remember, Lisa felt that she should have been born a girl. Lisa entered into the military at age nineteen for four years, choosing to live off-site rather than risk military staff combing through her possessions and finding her lingerie. After spending the previous two years living life as a woman when not at work, Lisa came out as transgender at age 47. She realized she finally wanted to begin hormone therapy to medically transition, and began traveling to California for treatment. After reconnecting with religion, Lisa became a teacher and delivered lectures at local colleges about the transgender community. Lisa struggled with her health for many years and passed away seven months after this interview took place in 2022.

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Item Information:

Identifier: 2f75r837g
Collection: Audio and Video Clips and Transcripts
Institution: OUTWORDS
Creator(s): Oakley, Lisa
MacCarthy, Jack
Contributor(s): Ramos, Juan Raymundo
Date Created: Feb. 4, 2022
Dates Covered: 1999
Genre: Oral Histories
Subject(s): Lisa Oakley
Places: Illinois > Cook County > City of Chicago > Chicago
Colorado > Mesa > Grand Junction
Colorado > Routt > Steamboat Springs
Topic(s): Anti-transgender discrimination
Coming out
Hormone therapy (Gender)
LGBTQ+ spiritual people
Trans women
Transgender people in the military
Transgender wheelchair users
Resource Type: Moving image
Language: English
Rights: In copyright
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