Transgender Pioneers Trivia Quiz

Answer: New Zealand

Born in the New Zealand capital of Wellington in 1957, Georgina Beyer is of European and Maori heritage. When Beyer won the Wairarapa seat for the Labour Party in the 1999 general election, many commentators were surprised by her clear victory since Wairarpa was considered a traditionally conservative area. Georgina Beyer's election to parliament was not the first time New Zealand had made political history as it was the first country in the world to give women the vote in 1893.

Answer: Philippines

Geraldine Roman was elected to serve as the representative for Bataan in 2016, following in the footsteps of her mother who had also represented the area. Roman's election makes her the highest ranking openly LGBT politician in the Philippines where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender politicians have traditionally been reluctant to publicly discuss their sexuality for fear of angering the Catholic Church and other conservative religious groups which wield a great deal of power and influence in the country. Roman has said that her priorities are to advocate for the people of Bataan and help bring about greater socioeconomic equality in the Philippines by improving opportunities for poorer students.

She is also keen to see a 2001 bill, which prevented transgender individuals in the Philippines from legally changing their birth name and gender after their transition, overturned and to introduce laws to help prevent discrimination against LGBT people more generally.

Answer: Wachowski

Commonly credited as 'The Wachowskis' for their directing work, Lana and Lilly made their directorial debut with 1996's 'Bound' and followed it up with the box office smash 'The Matrix' three years later. Their other works have included 'V for Vendetta', 'Cloud Atlas' and 'Speed Racer'. Lana, whose birth name was Lawrence, completed her gender transition in 2008 but did not make her first public appearance following her transition until 2012.

In 2016 Lana's younger sister Lily, whose birth name was Andrew, announced that she had also undergone gender reassignment.

Answer: Michael Dillon

Michael Dillon, who had long felt he had been assigned the wrong gender at birth, began hormone treatment in 1939. The hormones helped him to pass as a man more easily and he was able to engage in traditionally masculine professions such as mechanic and tow truck driver. During the early years of the Second World War, Dillon had been hospitalised for another medical condition when he happened to meet a plastic surgeon. Plastic surgery was a rare specialism at this time so Dillon had been lucky to come across someone who was not only able to perform a double mastectomy for him but was also able to complete the paperwork necessary to change the name and sex assigned on his birth certificate and also put him in touch with another plastic surgeon specialised in reconstructive surgery for soldiers whose genitals had been damaged in the war.

This surgeon was eventually able to perform a phalloplasty for Michael Dillon. Dillon enrolled in medical school in Dublin and subsequently embarked on a successful career as a doctor.

He wrote several early and influential papers on the subject of gender reassignment treatment and also personally advised a number of other people who were suffering from gender disphoria and were wishing to have the treatment. One of the people he helped was Roberta Cowell, then known as Robert, who was to become the first person in the UK to receive male-to-female sex reassignment surgery.

Answer: Orange Is the New Black

Laverne Cox has received critical and popular acclaim for her performance in the hit Netflix show which is set in a women's prison in which she plays a transgender inmate. Since her meteoric rise to fame, Laverne Cox has achieved several other notable firsts including being the first transgender person to have a waxwork of herself displayed at Madame Tussaud's in London, being the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of 'Time' magazine and the first African-American transgender person to produce and star in her own TV show, the makeover series 'TRANSform Me'.

Laverne Cox has an identical twin brother, M. Lamar, who appeared in 'Orange Is the New Black' as Cox's character Sophia prior to her transition.

Answer: Angela Morley

Angela Morley was born as Walter 'Wally' Stott in Leeds in 1924. Prior to her gender transition in 1972, Morley, then credited as Wally Stott, had a successful career as a composer and arranger of light music. She was also involved with two of the most successful British radio comedies of the 1950s, composing and performing the theme and incidental music for 'Hancock's Half Hour' and being the musical director on 'The Goon Show'. During the late 1950s and 1960s Morley became involved with the world of pop music, working with stars such as Dusty Springfield, Shirley Bassey and Scott Walker. Morley also arranged some British entries for the Eurovision Song Contest in the early 1960s. Following her transition, Angela Morley began to focus on composing and arranging music for film and television, beginning with her work on the final screen collaboration of legendary musical composers Lerner and Loewe 'The Little Prince' (1974).

Some of her other notable work includes writing much of the score for the film version of 'Watership Down' and scoring numerous episodes of the television series 'Dynasty', 'Dallas' and 'Wonder Woman'. Morley received multiple Emmy nominations and won for her work on Julie Andrews television specials.

Answer: Acorn

As well as designing the Acorn Micro-Computer, Sophie Wilson also designed the instruction set for the ARM processor which is still used in modern smartphones. In 2011 Maximum PC magazine ranked her at number eight on their list of 'The 15 Most Important Women in Tech History'. Sophie Wilson has also received a number of academic and professional honours.

She has been made a fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Computer History Museum.

Answer: Chaz Bono

Chaz Bono was born in 1969 and named Chastity at birth. His parents are Sonny Bono and Cher. Chaz has lived most of his life in the public eye, being featured on his parents' television show when he was a very small child. Chaz officially came out as a lesbian in 1995, though he had come out to his family some years earlier, when he was still a teenager.

He wrote a book about the coming out experience entitled 'Family Outing'. In 2008 Chaz began the process of transitioning from female to male and made the film 'Becoming Chaz' which documented his transition and which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

In 2011 Chaz appeared on the thirteenth season of the American version of 'Dancing With the Stars', making him the first openly transgender man to appear on a major American network show that wasn't specifically about transgender issues. Bono has been a passionate LGBT advocate for over two decades, being involved in numerous political and social campaigns relating to LGBT issues, notably opposing the 'Defence of Marriage Act'.

While Cher has largely been supportive of Chaz, his relationship with his father, Sonny Bono, became strained when the latter became a Republican congressman.

Answer: Against Me

Laura Jane Grace, whose birth name was Thomas James Gavel, had been dealing with feelings of gender disphoria since childhood but did not publicly come out until 2012 when she first performed with 'Against Me' billed under her new name. 'Transgender Disphoria Blues' is a concept album about a trans woman's experience. On the album's powerful title track Grace sings of her own frustrations about the difference between her own gender identity and the way she is often viewed by others. Since her transition Grace has become an outspoken advocate for the rights of transgender people and has been involved in a number of campaigns aimed at improving awareness of the issues that they face.

Answer: Poppy Z. Brite

Billy Martin was born in New Orleans in 1967 and the city has been the setting for most of his novels and short stories. He is best known for his gothic horror novels set in contemporary New Orleans which mostly feature LGBT characters and themes. Martin has suffered from gender disphoria since childhood and has identified as a man for some time, though he only began the medical process of transitioning in 2010.