Lucy Hicks Anderson was assigned male when she was born in 1886 though she was adamant about being a girl since early childhood. Her parents supported her following the advice of her doctor. She grew up to become a popular madame, chef, socialite and hostess. In 1945, after her second marriage to a US soldier, she was arrested in Oxnard and convicted of perjury for lying about her sex on her marriage license in order to fraudulently claim marital benefits intended for soldier’s wives under the GI Bill. Anderson declared, “I defy any doctor in the world to prove that I am not a woman. I have lived, dressed, acted just what I am, a woman.” She and her husband were sentenced to jail, and she was given 10 years of probation. The couple was banned from Oxnard and moved to LA. She is one of the earliest documented cases of a Black transgender person, though the term did not yet exist “#LGBTQHistory #QTPOC
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