1) The document discusses issues of reproductive rights for Puerto Rican women in the US in the 1970s. Groups like the Young Lords advocated for equal access to abortion and contraception, as sterilization of Puerto Rican women without consent was an issue. 2) It also discusses the experiences of early transgender individuals like Christine Jorgensen and Virginia Prince in the 1950s-1960s. Jorgensen underwent surgery and found fame and activism, while Prince identified as a cross-dresser and helped form early transgender organizations. 3) Finally, it outlines the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria riot in San Francisco, where transgender people protested discrimination. This led to increased social acceptance and rights, including

1. Surname 1
Student’s Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Transgender History
Question One
The Young Lord’s reproductive rights agenda as represented by Jennifer Nelson advocated for
equal treatment of women of color in terms of reproductive health. The legalization of abortion
in the first trimester is interpreted by the followers of the Young Lord’s Party as a way to
regulate the overpopulation of Puerto Ricans in the US (Nelson 160). Additionally, the unreliable
health care service in government hospitals contributed to the death of Carmen Rodriguez,
during a legal abortion. Moreover, Nelson voices the lack of respect for Puerto Rican women
rights to reproduce when contraception pills were tested in the area. Similarly, Laura Briggs
establishes that the women in working positions were forces to sterilize while in their early
twenties without a choice (Nelson 178). Furthermore, Briggs echoes the concerns on limiting
these women to choose their reproduction preferences when they are obligated to sterilize or
access legal abortions as a way or regulation overpopulation. Both writers address the issue of
pro-contraception organizations that dehumanize women by labeling them as baby-making
machines and further by using poverty and overpopulation as an excuse for advocating for
abortion and sterilization in Puerto Rico.
Question Two
Transgender issues were more severe during the post-world war than it is in the modern age.
Examples of people who faced the harsh times include Christine Jorgensen and Virginia Prince.

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Jorgensen was a soldier before undergoing genital alteration surgery in the early 1950s (Stryker
120). Her transition roused questions on transgender issues, feminism and gender roles in the
then society. However, Jorgensen gained popularity in the media as the first person to undergo
genital surgery in Copenhagen and as a result, she enjoyed her new-found fame, beauty, and
dignity of being a young woman. The consequences of Jorgensen’s experience led to her
involvement in socio-political activism which she used to create transgender awareness and
social tolerance. On the other hand, Virginia Prince was a Pharmacologist and cross-dressing
man who unlike Jorgensen despised undergoing genital alteration surgery and hated gays
(Stryker 125). However, her interaction with Louis Lawrence and Harry Benjamin, pioneers in
transgender research in 1942, motivated her in retaining her identity through cross-dressing.
Prince went further to start the first operational organization in America that dealt with
transgender issues and street queens. Her interaction with pioneers like Louis Lawrence and her
friends lend to her extension of social interactions with other transgender leading to the
formation of a journal for the American Society for Equality in dress (Stryker 133). The issue
provided insight and advocated for tolerance and acceptance of transgender people.
Question Three
The 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot was a reaction against the hostility by the cafeteria’s
administration towards the transgender men and street queens in Tenderloin, San Francisco. The
cafeteria dehumanized them and hired shooters to kill them and called the police when a group
for young gays and transgender people blocked the café’s entrance during the protest (Stryker
137). The results of this protest remain relevant to modern day transgender activism since the
incident promoted awareness and social acceptance of transgender men and women by the
community and law enforcers. Additionally, they gained to access specialized healthcare, land

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rights among other privileges forming a foundation for civil rights activism (Stryker 142).
Furthermore, the activism that involved the church, gays and straight white and people of color
working together to promote social reconstruction and fighting against poverty resulted in the
region receiving aid from the Federal Anti-poverty program. The activist team became the first
multi-racial gay and straight alliance in San Francisco. The results of the coalition increased
social-economic justice through the restructuring of societal perception of transgender issues.
Healthcare units for special transgender issues emerged, and later more facilities for genital
surgery in Stanford and Hopkins came into existence where people from the special unit in
Tenderloin were referred to by the doctor. Before the riot, police discriminated and targeted
transgender since they were assumed a threat to security (Stryker 148). However, after the riot,
the police changed their brutality towards the group as the law gave legal identity in accordance
to the person’s gender identification preference especially while undergoing treatment.
Consequently, the identification document helped them secure employment which improved
their economic status (Stryker 150). In essence, Compton’s Cafeteria riot gave rise to
transgender freedom in Tenderloin and rise in activists advocating for transgender rights to equal
treatment across the United States.

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Works Cited
Nelson, Jennifer. "" Abortions under Community Control": Feminism, Nationalism, and the
Politics of Reproduction among New York City's Young Lords." Journal of Women's
History 13.1 (2001): 157-180.
Stryker, Susan. Transgender history. Seal Press, (2008):115-150