Shelia Gilhooly as a butch dyke, has had her right to be in women-only spaces, like washrooms, challenged frequently for the past 50 years. Even with picture ID, confrontations with gatekeepers have been humiliating and threatening. Writing has connected her to allies fighting for the same right to belong and to be safe.
Still Sane, an art show/book she did with Persimmon Blackbridge, was about being locked up in a mental hospital for being too different. Her second book was Mistaken Identity, about the adventures and terrors of being taken for a man.
“The transgender activism of the last 20 years has decreased the frequency and hostility of misgendering encounters. These days, when I say I am a woman, I am as likely to get an apology as a threat.”
