LUCY HICKS ANDERSON (1886-1954, USA)
Born in Kentucky on January 9, 1886, Anderson was adamant that she was not male from a very early age, identifying as female in a time period before the term transgender existed, and naming herself Lucy. Doctors told Anderson’s parents to let her live as a young woman, so they did, and she began wearing dresses to school and being known as Lucy.
After Texas and New Mexico, she moved to California at the age of 34, where as a skilled chef, she won some baking contests. Throughout this time she saved enough money to buy property for a boarding house, front for a brothel that also sold illegal liquor during the prohibition era.
She was a well-known socialite and hostess, and her fame helped her to avoid serious jail time.
In 1945, a sailor claimed that he caught an STI from one of the women in Anderson’s brothel, so all of the women, including Anderson, were required to undergo medical examination.
When authorities learned from this physical examination that Anderson was transgender, they chose to try her for perjury, arguing that she lied about her sex on her marriage license and impersonated a woman.
During her trial for perjury, she stated “I defy any doctor in the world to prove that I am not a woman,” and “I have lived, dressed, acted just what I am, a woman.”
However, the court sentenced her to 10 years of probation, and both her and her husband were sent to a men’s prison where Anderson was forbidden by court order to wear any kind of women’s clothes.
After being released from prison, Anderson and her husband relocated to Los Angeles, where they resided quietly until her death in 1954, at 68.
