LGBT Movements in The United States - Transgender Activism

Transgender Activism

Transsexuals in San Francisco formed C.O.G. (Conversion Our Goal) in 1967, which, after a series of internal schisms, became the Transsexual Counseling Unit, which was located in office space rented by the War on Poverty. When funding from the War on Poverty programs ceased volunteers Jan Maxwell and Suzan Cooke sought greater funding from Reed Erickson's Foundation. The Erickson Educational Foundation grant funded a store front office located in San Francisco's Tenderloin on Turk St. There the Transsexual Counseling Service, with the assistance of the EEF as well as Lee Brewster's Queen Magazine expanded their services beyond the Bay Area by corresponding with transsexuals across the nation. To reflect this the TCS became the "National transsexual Counseling Unit. Reed Erickson was responsible for funding these programs and others which became the early transsexual movement through his foundation the Erickson Educational Foundation.