Recently, New York Mayor Mamdani reference The Cercle Hermaphroditos in a speech in support of Pride, and New York’s contributions to LGBTQ history. So, here is a little on this relatively obscure group, for those who haven’t heard of them:

The Cercle Hermaphroditos, founded in 1895 in New York City, was the first known transgender advocacy group in the U.S. This was at a time when cross dressing was a punishable crime. Their home at Paresis Hall provided a safe place for androgynes, queens, fairies, Uranians, and hermaphrodites (the terms transfeminine people used for themselves in those days) to gather and socialize. Most of what is known today about the secret organization comes from the memoirs of Jennie June, a female impersonator and regular at Paresis Hall, a gay bar and brothel near Washington Square Park, where the Cercle met. According to June, members were Ultra-Androgyne, & would always clothe themselves as female in their daily lives if the law permitted it. She also described the Cercle Hermaphroditos as a mutual aid society, where people assigned male at birth who lived as women could come together for safety and support.

In her book “The Female-Impersonators,” June chronicled her time as a sex worker in 1890s Manhattan. She described how transfeminine people were subjected to blackmail, violence, police harassment, theft, murder, and suicide. Paresis Hall club maintained a room to store women’s clothes for members, so they could avoid police harassment and street violence on their way to meetings. Discussions at the hall included topics like how to show solidarity with transmasculine people, and the latest science on gender and transfemininity.

In 2019, Shualee Cook wrote a play called “Circle Hermaphroditos” about a transmasculine person who goes to Paresis Hall to find a lady he can legally marry, then play the roles expected of them in public while pursuing the life they want in private. But finding the proper match is more difficult than he expected, especially after the club is raided by police.

References:
https://glreview.org/cercle-hermaphroditos/
https://getplume.co/blog/trans-history-spotlight-the-cercle-hermaphroditos/
https://parityproductions.org/cercle-hermaphroditos

#lgbtq #pride #pridemonth #trans #transgender #transrightsarehumanrights #cerclehermaphroditos #drag #crossdress