Digital Transgender Archive

Lou Sullivan diary, 1975-1977

Content Warning: This item contains potentially sensitive material related to suicide and sexual assault. Lou Sullivan's diary for 1975-1977, following him from the ages of 24-26. Sullivan continued to engage with gay culture during these years, but left his supportive community in Milwaukee when, in 1975, he moved to San Francisco with his long-term partner and became monogamous with him. The move brought the couple closer, but it continued to be a difficult relationship whose complexities often preoccupied Sullivan. Sullivan also struggled to find employment in San Francisco while dressed full-time in a masculine style; his job search led him to get in touch with San Francisco LGBTQ organizations like the Society for Individual Rights and Center for Special Problems, the latter of which was specifically focused on trans people's needs. He eventually found employment once again as an administrative assistant, although he continued to experience discrimination at work due to the way he dressed. Sullivan also continued to experience and write about dysphoria during this year, although he often doubted that medical transition would give him what he wanted and needed. This began to change when, in 1976, he read an article about Steve Dain, a local teacher who had transitioned. Sullivan met with Dain and began seriously exploring the idea of medical transition, but faced extreme opposition from his partner, the disapproval of his therapist, and limited support from his friends. Instead of continuing to pursue transition, he followed his therapist's advice to attempt to reconcile himself to being a woman, dress in feminine style, and make female friends. Louis Graydon Sullivan (1951-1991) was a gay trans man from Milwaukee, WI who lived much of his adult life in San Francisco. A diarist, amateur historian, and administrative assistant, Sullivan is best known for the detailed and thoughtful diary he kept from childhood until his death from AIDS at age 39.