Timeline of transgender history

Before the Common Era

• c. 7,000 BCEc. 1700 BCEAmong the sexual depictions in Neolithic and Bronze Age drawings and figurines from the Mediterranean are, as one author describes it, a "third sex" human figure having female breasts and male genitals or without distinguishing sex characteristics. In Neolithic Italy, female images are found in a domestic context, while images that combine sexual characteristics appear in burials or religious settings. In Neolithic Greece and Cyprus, figures are often dual-sexed or without identifying sexual characteristics.
• c. 2900 BCEc. 2500 BCEA burial of a suburb of Prague, Czech Republic, a male is buried in the outfit usually reserved for women. Archaeologists speculate that the burial corresponds to a transgender person or someone of the third sex.

  First millenium (1–1000)

• 'Nero becomes Emperor of Rome. Nero married two men, Pythagoras and Sporus, in legal ceremonies, with Sporus accorded the regalia worn by the wives of the Caesars. Juvenal and Martial note that male couples are having traditional marriage ceremonies.
• ' Tacitus wrote in Germania that priests of the Swabian sub-tribe, the Naharvali or Nahanarvali, who "dress as women" to perform their priestly duties.
• 218222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus's reign begins. At different times, Elagabalus marries five women and a man named Zoticus, an athlete from Smyrna, in a lavish public ceremony at Rome; but the Syrian's most stable relationship is with the chariot driver Hierocles, and Cassius Dio says Elagabalus delighted in being called Hierocles' mistress, wife, and queen. The emperor wears makeup and wigs, prefers to be called a lady and not a lord, and offers vast sums to any physician who can provide them with a vagina; for this reason, the emperor is seen by some writers as an early transgender figure and one of the first on record as seeking sex reassignment surgery.
• Death of Anastasia the Patrician who left life as a lady-in-waiting in the court of Justinian I in Constantinople to spend twenty-eight years dressed as a male monk in seclusion in Egypt, and has been adopted by today's LGBT community as an example of a "transgender" saint.

  1001–1900

• 'Rolandino Roncaglia is tried for sodomy, an event that caused a sensation in Italy. He confessed he "had never had sexual intercourse, neither with his wife nor with any other woman, because he had never felt any carnal appetite, nor could he ever have an erection of his virile member". After his wife died of plague, Rolandino started to prostitute himself, wearing female dresses because "since he has female look, voice and movementsalthough he does not have a female orifice, but has a male member and testiclesmany persons considered him to be a woman because of his appearance".
• 'John Rykener, known also as Johannes Richer and Eleanor, was a transvestite prostitute working mainly in London, but also active in Oxford. He was arrested in 1395 for cross-dressing and interrogated.
• 'Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca documents same sex marriages and men "who dress like women and perform the office of women, but use the bow and carry big loads" among a Native American tribe in his publication, The Journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and His Companions from Florida to the Pacific 1528–1536.
• 'process of Wojciech z Poznania, who married Sebastian Słodownik, and lived with him for 2 years in Poznań. Both had female partners. On his return to Kraków, he married Wawrzyniec Włoszek. Wojciech, considered in public opinion as a woman, was burned for 'crimes against nature'.

  20th century

First half

• 'In Berlin, Germany, Doctor Magnus Hirschfeld co-founds the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, a pioneering private research institute and counseling office. Its library of thousands of books was destroyed by Nazis in May 1933.
• 'Hirschfeld introduces the term "Transsexualismus".
• 'In Berlin in 1931, Dora Richter became the first known transgender woman to undergo vaginoplasty.
• 'Nazis burn the library of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Research, and destroy the Institute.
• ' The English word transsexuality is first used.
• 'Plastic surgeon Harold Gillies carries out female-to-male sex reassignment surgery on Michael Dillon in Britain.

  1950s

• 'David Oliver Cauldwell introduces the term "trans-sexual" to English, based on an earlier German term, having introduced "transsexualism" in 1949.
• 'Christine Jorgensen becomes the first widely publicized person to have undergone sex reassignment surgery, in this case male to female, creating a world-wide sensation.
• 'Danish endocrinologist Christian Hamburger publishes one of the earliest reports on hormone therapy in transgender women, effective pharmaceutical female sex-hormonal medications having been available since the 1920s and 1930s.
• 'The term "Transsexual" is used by U.S. physician Harry Benjamin in a public lecture.
• The first LGBT uprising in the USA occurs at Cooper's Do-nuts in Los Angeles, USA; rioters were arrested by LAPD.

  1960s

• 'The term transgender is coined by psychiatrist John F. Oliven of Columbia University in his 1965 reference work Sexual Hygiene and Pathology.
• 'The Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in August 1966 by transgender women and Vanguard members in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This incident was one of the first recorded transgender riots in United States history, preceding the more famous 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City by three years.
• 'The Black Cat Tavern in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles is raided on New Year's Day by 12 plainclothes police officers who beat and arrested employees and patrons. The raid prompted a series of protests that began on 5 January 1967, organized by P.R.I.D.E.. It's the first use of the term "Pride" that came to be associated with LGBT rights.
• 'According to the online encyclopedia glbtq.com, "In the aftermath of the riot at Compton's, a network of transgender social, psychological, and medical support services was established, which culminated in 1968 with the creation of the National Transsexual Counseling Unit , the first such peer-run support and advocacy organization in the world".
• The Stonewall riots occur in New York City.

  1970s

• 'Sweden becomes the first country in the world to allow transgender people to legally change their sex, and provides free hormone therapy;
• '
• * Chile allows a trans person to legally change her name and gender on the birth certificate after undergoing sex reassignment surgery, becoming the second country in the world to do so.
• * Angela Morley became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Academy Award, when she was nominated for one in the category of Best Music, Original Song Score/Adaptation for The Little Prince, a nomination shared with Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, and Douglas Gamley.
• '
• * Panama is the third country in the world to allow trans people who have gone through sex reassignment surgery to get their personal documents reflecting their new sex.
• * Minneapolis becomes the first city in the United States to pass trans-inclusive civil rights protection legislation.
• '
• * The rainbow flag is first used as a symbol of gay pride.
• * Founding of Samois in San Francisco, the earliest known lesbian-feminist BDSM organization; well-known members of the group include Patrick Califia.
• * Founding of Radical Faeries by Harry Hay and others, and first gathering in Arizona.

  1980s

• 'The Human Rights Campaign Fund is founded by Steve Endean; The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.
• 'France prohibits discrimination based on lifestyle in employment and services

  1990s

• 'Althea Garrison was elected as the first transgender state legislator in America, and served one term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. It was not publicly known that she was transgender when she was elected.
• 'US state of Minnesota enacts gender identity anti-discrimination legislation.
• 'The Human Rights Campaign drops the word "Fund" from their title and broadens their mission to promote "an America where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are ensured equality and embraced as full members of the American family at home, at work and in every community;"
• '
• * Gender identity was added to the mission of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays after a vote at their annual meeting in San Francisco. Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays is the first national LGBT organization to officially adopt a transgender-inclusion policy for its work.
• * Dana International became the first trans person to win the Eurovision Song Contest, representing Israel with the song "Diva".
• * Robert Halford comes out as being the first openly gay heavy metal musician.
• The Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a trans woman who is a graphic designer, columnist, and activist, to memorialize the murder of Rita Hester in Allston, Massachusetts. Since its inception, TDoR has been held annually on 20 November, and it has slowly evolved from the web-based project started by Smith into an international day of action.

  2000s

• Anti-discrimination legislation : US state of Rhode Island

• Reuben Zellman became the first openly transgender person accepted to the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he was ordained in 2010.
• The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards approved a rabbinic ruling that concluded that sex reassignment surgery is permissible as a treatment of gender dysphoria, and that a transgender person's sex status under Jewish law is changed by SRS.
• Legal recognition of indeterminate gender: Alex MacFarlane became the first person reported to obtain a birth certificate and passport, in Australia, showing indeterminate gender.
• Reform rabbi Margaret Wenig organized the first school-wide seminar at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College which addressed the psychological, legal, and religious issues affecting people who are intersex or transsexual.
• Jennifer Finney Boylan's autobiography, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, was the first book by an openly transgender American to become a bestseller.

• The first European Transgender Council Meeting was held in Vienna.

• Anti-discrimination legislation for gender identity: the US states of Colorado, Iowa Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont.
• Candis Cayne played Carmelita Rainer, a transgender woman having an affair with married New York Attorney General Patrick Darling, on the ABC prime time drama Dirty Sexy Money. The role made Cayne the first openly transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character in prime time.
• Joy Ladin became the first openly transgender professor at an Orthodox institution.
• Amaranta Gómez Regalado became the first trans person in the Mexican Congress.
• Theresa Sparks was elected president of the San Francisco Police Commission by a single vote, making her the first openly transgender person ever to be elected president of any San Francisco commission, as well as San Francisco's highest ranking openly transgender official.

• The International Transgender Day of Visibility was founded by Michigan-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall in 2009 as a reaction to the lack of LGBT holidays celebrating transgender people, citing the frustration that the only well-known transgender-centered holiday was the Transgender Day of Remembrance which mourned the loss of transgender people to hate crimes, but did not acknowledge and celebrate living members of the transgender community.
• Diego Sanchez became the first openly transgender person to work on Capitol Hill; he was hired as a legislative assistant for Barney Frank. Sanchez was also the first transgender person on the Democratic National Committee's Platform Committee in 2008.
• Barbra "Babs" Siperstein was nominated and confirmed as an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee, becoming its first openly transgender member.

  2010s

2010

• Guinness World Records recognized transgender man Thomas Beatie as the world's "First Married Man to Give Birth."
• Amanda Simpson became the first openly transgender presidential appointee in America when she was appointed as senior technical adviser in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security.
• Kye Allums became the first openly transgender athlete to play in NCAA basketball. He was a transgender man who played on George Washington University's women's team.
• Phyllis Frye became the first openly transgender judge appointed in the United States.

  2011

• Tony Briffa, believed to be the world's first intersex mayor, elected in the City of Hobsons Bay in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, at the end of November.
• Elio Di Rupo, first openly gay male head of government, becomes Prime Minister of Belgium, 6 December.
• Chaz Bono appeared on the 13th season of the US version of Dancing with the Stars in 2011. This was the first time an openly transgender man starred on a major network television show for something unrelated to being transgender.
• Harmony Santana became the first openly transgender actress to receive a major acting award nomination; she was nominated by the Independent Spirit Awards as Best Supporting Actress for the movie Gun Hill Road.
• Jaiyah "Johnny" Saelua became the first openly transgender international footballer to play in the World Cup when she took the field for American Samoa in Oceania's first round of World Cup qualifiers for Brazil 2014.

  2012

• Anti-discrimination legislation for sexual orientation and gender identity: Chile
• The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity issued a regulation to prohibit LGBT discrimination in federally assisted housing programs. The new regulations ensure that the Department's core housing programs are open to all eligible persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• For gender identity: Canadian provinces of Manitoba; and gender expression: Ontario
• Emily Aviva Kapor, an American rabbi who had been ordained privately by a "Conservadox" rabbi in 2005, began living as a woman in 2012, thus becoming the first openly transgender female rabbi.
• Rainbow Jews, an oral history project showcasing the lives of Jewish bisexual, lesbian, gay, and transgender people in the United Kingdom from the 1950s until the present, was launched. It is the United Kingdom's first archive of Jewish bisexual, lesbian, gay, and transgender history.
• Stacie Laughton became the first openly transgender person elected to any American state legislature when she won a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. However, she resigned from the New Hampshire state legislature before she took office, after it was revealed that she had served four months in Belknap County House of Corrections following a 2008 credit card fraud conviction.
• San Francisco voted to become the first U.S. city to provide and cover the cost of sex reassignment surgeries for uninsured transgender residents.

  2013

• Anti-discrimination legislation for sexual orientation and gender identity: Cyprus and Puerto Rico
• For gender identity: US state of Delaware
• For gender expression: Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island
• Nikki Sinclaire came out as transgender, thus becoming the United Kingdom's first openly transgender Parliamentarian. Daniel Kawczynski became the first MP in Britain to come out as bisexual.
• The first United Nations ministerial meeting on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals was held. Representatives from the US, France, Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, the Netherlands, Norway, Japan, New Zealand and the EU, along with executive directors of Human Rights Watch and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission reaffirmed their commitments to working together to end discrimination and violence towards the LGBT community.
• Fallon Fox came out as transgender, thus becoming the first openly transgender athlete in mixed martial arts history.
• Philadelphia passes one of the most comprehensive transgender rights bills on the city level, which addresses transgender bathroom use and city employee healthcare, making it the first city on the east coast to provide transition related healthcare to its city employees.
• Autumn Sandeen, a U.S. veteran and transgender woman, received a letter from a Navy official stating, "Per your request the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System has been updated to show your gender as female effective 12 April 2013." Allyson Robinson of Outserve declared, "To our knowledge, this is the first time that the Department of Defense has recognized and affirmed a change of gender for anyone affiliated, in a uniformed capacity — in this case a military retiree."
• Ben Barres became the first openly transgender scientist in the US National Academy of Sciences in 2013.
• For the first time, the California Department of Education's list of recommended books for grades Pre-K-through-12 included a book with a transgender theme, I Am J by Cris Beam.
• California enacted America's first law protecting transgender students; the law, called the School Success and Opportunity Act, declares that every public school student in California from kindergarten to 12th grade must be "permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records."
• Jennifer Pritzker came out as transgender in 2013 and thus became the world's first openly transgender billionaire.
• A six-year-old girl named Luana, who was born a boy, became the first transgender child in Argentina to have her new name officially changed on her identity documents. She is believed to be the youngest to benefit from the country's new Gender Identity Law, which was approved in May 2012.
• Jennifer Finney Boylan was chosen as the first openly transgender co-chair of GLAAD's National Board of Directors.
• On 31 October 2013 Paris Lees became the first openly transgender panellist to appear on the BBC's Question Time programme, drawing praise from commentators who included former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and the Labour Party deputy leader Harriet Harman.
• Stephen Alexander, of Rhode Island, became the first high school coach to come out publicly as transgender.
• On 1 November Audrey Gauthier was elected president of CUPE 4041, representing Air Transat flight attendants based in Montreal. She thus became the first openly transgender person elected president of a union local in Canada.
• Publication of the first parliamentary report on the human rights and health of intersex people, published by the Australian Senate on 25 October.
• Kristin Beck, formerly Chris Beck, came out as the first openly transgender retired Navy SEAL.
• Q Radio, which went on the airwaves in September, claims to be India's first radio station which caters to the country's lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.
• San Francisco's first Project Homeless Connect for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people was held.

  2014

• Anti-discrimination law for gender identity: Canadian province Saskatchewan
• The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the first Title VII action taken by the federal government on behalf of transgender workers. The lawsuits were filed for Amiee Stephens and Brandi Branson, both transgender women.
• Meghan Stabler became the first openly transgender woman to be named Working Mother magazine's Working Mother of the Year.
• Laverne Cox was on the cover of the 9 June 2014 issue of Time, and was interviewed for the article "The Transgender Tipping Point". She also became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy in an acting category: Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Sophia Burset in Orange Is the New Black.
• Transgender Studies Quarterly, the first non-medical academic journal devoted to transgender issues, began publication, with Susan Stryker and Paisley Currah as coeditors.
• Mills College became the first single-sex college in the U.S. to adopt a policy explicitly welcoming transgender students, Mount Holyoke became the first Seven Sisters college to accept transgender students.
• Blake Brockington became the first openly transgender high school homecoming king in North Carolina.
• Nina Chaubal and Greta Gustava Martela cofounded Trans Lifeline, the first U.S. suicide hotline dedicated to transgender people.
• Tona Brown became the first African-American openly transgender woman to perform at Carnegie Hall.
• The Transgender Trends panel was the first panel on that subject ever held at San Diego Comic-Con.
• The San Francisco Police academy graduated its first openly transgender police officer, Mikayla Connell.
• The 100 block of Turk Street in San Francisco was renamed Vicki Mar Lane after trans activist Vicki Marlane.
• Lea T became the face of American hair-care brand Redken, thus making her the first openly transgender model to front a global cosmetics brand.
• A national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention campaign featured an openly transgender person, Jennifer Barge, as its spokesperson for the first time.
• Chris Mosier became the first openly transgender man inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.
• Kinnon MacKinnon became the first openly transgender man to earn a gold in powerlifting at the Gay Games in the 2014 Games.
• BBC2 commissioned Britain's first transgender sitcom, called Boy Meets Girl, which follows the developing relationship between Leo, a 26-year-old man and Judy, a 40-year-old transgender woman.
• ICEIS Rain became the first openly two-spirit person to perform at the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards.
• Padmini Prakash became India's first openly transgender television news anchor.
• Denmark became the first European country to remove the Gender Identity Disorder diagnosis as a necessary requirement in the gender recognition process.
• Malta became the first European state to add recognition of gender identity to its constitution as a protected category.
• The first openly transgender woman got married in Malta.
• At least 1,000 openly transgender Bangladeshis held Bangladesh's first pride march, to mark one year since the government recognized them as a third gender.
• The Arizona Interscholastic Association Executive Board approved the first transgender student-athlete to play in a winter sport in Arizona.
• The FTM Fitness Conference hosted the first bodybuilding competition for transgender men, the FTM Fitness World Bodybuilding Competition.
• Family Circle featured a same-sex couple for the first time in its November 2014 issue.
• The UN Human Rights Council adopted a second resolution related to sexual orientation and gender identity on 26 September 2014. It passed by a vote of 25-14 and is the first time in the Council's history that it adopted a resolution on LGBT rights with the majority of its members.
• Petra De Sutter became the first openly transgender person to serve in Belgium's Parliament, specifically its Senate.
• Luisa Revilla Urcia became the first openly transgender person elected to a public office in Peru when she won a seat on the local council in La Esperanza in the province of Trujillo in northwestern Peru.
• The Labor government in Victoria, Australia appointed Martin Foley as Minister of equality, marking the first time an Australian government has ever had a dedicated Minister overseeing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues.
• Gypsy Vered Meltzer was elected to the City Council in Appleton; as such he became the first openly transgender elected official in Wisconsin.

  2015

• Anti-discrimination law for gender identity and gender expression: Canadian province of Alberta.
• Madhu Kinnar became India's first openly transgender person to be elected mayor; she was elected mayor of Chhattisgarh's Raigarh Municipal Corporation.
• Zoey Tur joined Inside Edition as a Special Correspondent during February, thus becoming the first openly transgender television reporter on national TV in America.
• Pennsylvania State Representative Mark B. Cohen introduced the first transgender rights bills in Pennsylvania's history.
• In March 2015 Rabbi Denise Eger became the first openly gay president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in North America.
• The inaugural White House Trans Women Of Color Women's History Month Briefing was held.
• The U.S. Justice Department announced that it had filed its first civil lawsuit on behalf of a transgender person ; the lawsuit was United States of America v. Southeastern Oklahoma State University and the Regional University System of Oklahoma, filed in federal court in that state.
• In April 2015, Malta became the first country in the world to outlaw sterilization and invasive surgery on intersex people.
• In a first for the state, California's Department of Corrections was ordered by a federal judge to grant a transgender prisoner access to gender-affirming surgery.
• Andreja Pejic became the first openly transgender model profiled by Vogue, in its May 2015 issue.
• Laverne Cox posed nude for the Allure annual "Nudes" issue, becoming the first openly transgender actress to do so. She also became the first openly transgender person to have a wax figure of herself at Madame Tussauds. She also won a Daytime Emmy Award in Outstanding Special Class Special as Executive Producer for Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word. This made her the first openly transgender woman to win a Daytime Emmy as an Executive Producer; as well, The T Word is the first trans documentary to win a Daytime Emmy.
• Scott Turner Schofield became the first openly transgender actor to play a major role on daytime television, as the character Nick on the show The Bold and the Beautiful. On the same show, the character Maya Avant became the first transgender bride to be married on daytime television when she married Rick Forrester.
• Maka Brown, an 18-year-old senior at the Salt Lake School for Performing Arts, was crowned Utah's first openly transgender prom queen.
• When President Obama declared May to be National Foster Care Month in 2015, he became the first president to explicitly say gender identity should not prevent anyone from adopting or becoming a foster parent.
• Abby Stein came out as transgender and thus became the first openly transgender woman to have been ordained by an ultra-Orthodox institution, having received her rabbinical degree in 2011 from Yeshiva Viznitz in South Fallsburg, N.Y. However, this was before she was openly transgender, and she is no longer working as a rabbi as of 2016. She is also the first openly transgender woman raised in a Hasidic community, and is a direct descendant of Hasidic Judaism's founder the Baal Shem Tov.
• Loiza Lamers won "Holland's Next Top Model", making her the first openly transgender winner of the "Top Model" franchise.
• Philadelphia flew the transgender pride flag above City Hall for the first time.
• Caitlyn Jenner became the first openly transgender woman on the cover of Vanity Fair.
• Chris Mosier became the first known out trans athlete to join a U.S. national team that matched his gender identity, rather than the gender assigned him at birth, when he won a spot on Team USA in the men's sprint duathalon.
• Manabi Bandopadhyay, India's first openly transgender college principal, began work; she worked as the principal of the Krishnagar Women's College in Nadia district.
• Breanna Sinclairé became the first openly transgender person to sing the national anthem at a professional sporting event, which she did at a Major League Baseball game.
• Audrey Middleton became the U.S. television show Big Brother's first openly transgender houseguest.
• Aydian Dowling became the first openly transgender man on the cover of Men's Health magazine, as part of a special collector's edition.
• Jacob Anderson-Minshall became the first openly transgender author to win a Goldie award from the Golden Crown Literary Society; he shared the award for best creative non-fiction book with Diane Anderson-Minshall for Queerly Beloved: A Love Story Across Genders.
• was introduced; it is a first-of-its-kind publication for school administrations, teachers, and parents about how to provide safe and supportive environments for all transgender students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
• Hari Nef became the first openly transgender model signed to IMG.
• President Obama appointed Raffi Freedman-Gurspan to serve as an Outreach and Recruitment Director in the Presidential Personnel Office, making her the first openly transgender appointee to work inside the White House.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs opened its first clinic for transgender service members.
• Andrew Guy became Australia's first openly transgender TV host, as a guest presenter on The Project.
• Nepal adopted its first democratic constitution, which is the first in Asia to specifically protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
• The first Oscar campaigns for openly transgender actresses supported by a movie producer were launched for actresses Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor of the movie Tangerine.
• EastEnders chose Riley Carter Millington as the first openly transgender actor in UK TV soap history; he played ‘Kyle’, a man who has transitioned from female to male, which Riley did in real life. Shortly after, Hollyoaks cast transgender actress Annie Wallace.
• A transgender man's phalloplasty became the first ever seen on camera, in the Channel 4 documentary Girls to Men.
• Inga Beale, CEO of Lloyd's of London, became the first woman and the first openly bisexual person to be named number one in the OUTstanding & FT Leading LGBT executive power list.
• The first U.S. congressional forum on anti-transgender violence was held.
• Mya Taylor won the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor, making her the first openly transgender actress to win a Gotham award.
• Tamara Adrian was elected to the Venezuelan National Assembly, thus becoming the first openly transgender Venezuelan to be elected to their national legislature, as well as the first openly transgender person in the entire Western Hemisphere to do so.

  2016

• Anti-Discrimination laws for gender identity and gender expression: Canadian provinces of Quebec and British Columbia
• In January 2016, the Ministry of Health of Chile ordered the suspension of unnecessary normalization treatments for intersex children, including irreversible surgery, until they reach an age when they can make decisions on their own.
• Through her Foundation, Jennifer Pritzker gave a $2 million donation to create the world's first endowed academic chair of transgender studies, at the University of Victoria in British Columbia; Aaron Devor was chosen as the inaugural chair. The United Nations voted to create their first LGBT human rights watchdog.
• Caitlyn Jenner became the first openly transgender person on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
• Mya Taylor became the first openly transgender actor to win an Independent Spirit Award; she won for Best Supporting Female.
• Israel held its first transgender beauty pageant, which was called "Miss Trans Israel", and was held at a club in Tel Aviv.
• President Barack Obama appointed Raffi Freedman-Gurspan as the White House's primary LGBT liaison, making her the first openly transgender person in the role.
• Nisha Ayub received the International Women of Courage Award in 2016, becoming the first openly transgender woman to receive that award.
• Aiden Katri, 19, became the first Israeli transgender woman to be jailed for refusing to serve in the military.
• Trans United Fund was founded; it is the first group of its kind, a 501 organization of transgender leaders focused on transgender issues.
• Geraldine Roman became the first openly transgender woman elected to Congress in the Philippines.
• Anwen Muston was elected to Wolverhampton City Council, making her the first openly transgender woman to be elected as a Labour representative.
• Amelia Gapin became the first openly transgender woman to be featured on the cover of Women's Running.
• On 10 June 2016, an Oregon circuit court ruled that a resident, Jamie Shupe, could obtain a non-binary gender designation. The Transgender Law Center believes this to be "the first ruling of its kind in the U.S."
• Chris Mosier was chosen as the first openly transgender athlete to be featured in the "Body Issue" of ESPN The Magazine, and appeared in Nike's first ad with an openly transgender athlete.
• It was announced on 30 June 2016 that, beginning on that date, otherwise qualified United States service members could not any longer be discharged, denied reenlistment, involuntarily separated, or denied continuation of service because of being transgender.
• Misty Plowright became the first openly transgender candidate to win a major party primary for the US House of Representatives.
• An important legal victory for transgender people occurred in April 2016, when the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of transgender male student Gavin Grimm, which marked the first ruling by a U.S. appeals court to find that transgender students are protected under federal laws that ban sex-based discrimination. The ruling came on a challenge to the Gloucester County School Board's policy of making transgender students use alternative restroom facilities.
• Sarah McBride was a speaker at the Democratic National Convention, becoming the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention in American history.
• Elle printed special collectors’ covers for their September 2016 issue, and one of them featured Hari Nef, which was the first time an openly transgender woman had been on the cover of a major commercial British magazine.
• Lea T became the first openly transgender person ever to participate in the opening ceremonies of an Olympics when she led the Brazilian team into the stadium on her bike during the 2016 Rio Olympics.
• The British women's field hockey team won gold at the Olympics; as Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh were both on that team, this made them the first same-sex married couple to win Olympic medals.
• Tracey Norman and Geena Rocero became the first two openly transgender models to appear on the cover of an edition of Harper's Bazaar.
• Harrison Browne of the National Women's Hockey League came out as a transgender man, which made him the first openly transgender athlete in professional American team sports.

  2017

• The January 2017 issue of National Geographic has a 9-year-old transgender girl on the cover ; she is thought to be the first openly transgender person on National Geographic’s cover.
• Denmark became the second country in the world to officially remove transgender identities from its list of mental health disorders.
• Gabrielle Tremblay became the first openly transgender actress ever nominated for a Canadian Screen Award, as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves .
• Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio became the first openly transgender model on the cover of French Vogue.
• Joe Maldonado became the first openly transgender member of the Boy Scouts of America. In 2016, he was rejected from the Cub Scouts for being transgender, but this policy was changed in 2017 after his story became nationally known.
• Martina Robledo became the first openly transgender woman to act as a trophy presenter at the Grammys.
• Japan became the first country in the world to elect an openly transgender man to a public office when Tomoya Hosoda was elected as a councilor for the city of Iruma.
• M Barclay became the first openly non-binary trans person to be commissioned as a Deacon in the United Methodist Church.
• The Unitarian Universalist Association's General Assembly voted to create inclusive wordings for non-binary, genderqueer, gender fluid, agender, intersex, two-spirit and polygender people, replacing the words "men and women" with the word "people." Of the six sources of the living tradition, the second source of faith, as documented in the bylaws of the denomination, now includes "Words and deeds of prophetic people which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love."
• Philippa York, formerly Robert Millar, came out as transgender, thus becoming the first former professional cyclist to have publicly transitioned.
• Alex Hai came out as a transgender man, thus becoming the first openly transgender gondolier in Venice.
• Ines Rau became the first openly transgender Playboy Playmate.
• Danica Roem was elected as Virginia's first transgender lawmaker.
• Andrea Jenkins became the first openly transgender black woman elected to public office in the United States when she was elected to the Minneapolis City Council.
• Tyler Titus, a transgender man, became the first openly transgender person elected to public office in Pennsylvania when he was elected to the Erie School Board. He and Phillipe Cunningham, elected to the Minneapolis City Council on the same night, became the first two openly trans men to be elected to public office in the United States.
• The United States Defense Health Agency for the first time approved payment for sex reassignment surgery for an active-duty U.S. military service member. The patient, a trans woman infantry soldier, had already begun a course of treatment, and the procedure, which the treating doctor deemed medically necessary, was performed on 14 November at a private hospital, since U.S. military hospitals lacked the requisite surgical expertise.
• America's first all-LGBT city council was elected in Palm Springs, California, consisting of three gay men, a transgender woman and a bisexual woman.

  2018

• Canadian Women's Hockey League player Jessica Platt came out as a transgender woman, making her the first transgender woman to come out in North American professional hockey.
• Yance Ford and Joslyn Barnes were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for producing Strong Island, which he also directed. As such, Ford was the first openly transgender man to be nominated for any Academy Award, and the first openly transgender director to be nominated for any Academy Award.
• Patricio Manuel became the first openly transgender male to box professionally in the United States, and, as he won the fight, the first openly transgender male to win a pro boxing fight in the U.S.
• Paris Lees became the first openly transgender woman featured in British Vogue.
• Canadian Women's Hockey League player Jessica Platt came out as a transgender woman, making her the first transgender woman to come out in North American professional hockey.
• Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of any Cosmopolitan magazine.
• Transgender Health reported that a transgender woman in the United States breastfed her adopted baby; this was the first known case of a transgender woman breastfeeding.
• Daniela Vega became the first openly transgender person in history to be a presenter at the Academy Awards.
• Marvia Malik became the first openly transgender newsreader to appear on Pakistani television in 2018.
• Peppermint made her Broadway debut in The Go-Go's-inspired musical Head Over Heels. The show began previews on 23 June 2018 and officially opened 26 July; playing the role of Pythio, Peppermint became the first trans woman to originate a principal role on Broadway.
• Angela Ponce made history on 29 June 2018 as the first openly transgender woman to be crowned Miss Spain, and became the first openly transgender contested at Miss Universe.
• Christine Hallquist became the first openly transgender candidate for governor nominated by a major political party in the United States when she was nominated for governor of Vermont by the Democrats.
• Stav Strashko became the first openly transgender actress ever to receive an Ophir Award nomination for Best Actress.
• Yance Ford and Joslyn Barnes were awarded an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for producing Strong Island, which made Ford the first openly transgender man and the first black openly transgender person to win an Emmy award, as well as the first openly transgender filmmaker to win a Creative Arts Emmy.
• Paris Lees became a correspondant with British Vogue.
• Patricio Manuel became the first openly transgender male to box professionally in the United States, and, as he won the fight, the first openly transgender male to win a pro boxing fight in the U.S.
• Colombia prosecuted a transgender woman's murder as a femicide for the first time in 2018, sentencing Davinson Stiven Erazo Sánchez to twenty years in a psychiatric center for "aggravated femicide" a year after he killed Anyela Ramos Claros, a transgender woman.

  2019

• Nyla Rose became the first openly transgender woman to sign with a major American professional wrestling promotion when she signed with All Elite Wrestling.
• Army Capt. Alivia Stehlik, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Blake Dremann, Army Capt. Jennifer Peace, Army Staff Sgt. Patricia King and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Akira Wyatt became the first openly transgender members of the United States military to testify publicly in front of Congress.
• Meghan Stabler became the first openly transgender member of Planned Parenthood's National Board of Directors. The Advocate editors named Meghan as one of The Advocate magazine's 2019 Champions of Pride.
• Indya Moore became the first openly transgender person to be featured on the cover of the U.S. version of Elle magazine.
• Lucia Lucas, normally based in Germany, made her debut as Don Giovanni with the Tulsa Opera, becoming the first openly transgender person to sing a lead role in a standard operatic work in the US.
• Gianmarco Negri was elected mayor of Tromello, making him Italy's first openly transgender mayor.
• Janet Mock signed a three-year deal with Netflix giving them exclusive rights to her TV series and a first-look option on feature film projects; this made her the first openly transgender woman of color to secure a deal with a major content company.
• Zach Barack became the first openly transgender actor in the Marvel Universe when he played a classmate of Peter Parker's in .
• Laverne Cox was one of fifteen women chosen by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue of British Vogue; this made Cox the first openly transgender woman to appear on the cover of British Vogue.
• Valentina Sampaio was hired by Victoria's Secret as their first openly transgender model in August 2019.
• MJ Rodriguez became the first openly transgender woman to win Best Actress - Television at the Imagen Awards.
• June Eastwood became the first openly male-to-female transgender athlete to compete in NCAA Division I cross country; she competed for the University of Montana women's team.
• Teddy Quinlivan became the first openly transgender model to be hired by Chanel.
• Angelica Ross became the first openly transgender person to host an American presidential forum.
• Mattel launched the world's first line of gender-neutral dolls, which they marketed as Creatable World.
• In November 2019, transgender community leader Lauren Pulido raised the transgender pride flag over the California state capitol for Trans Day of Remembrance, reportedly the first time the transgender flag was raised over a state capitol building in the United States.

  2020

• Camila Prins became the first openly transgender woman to lead the drum section of a top samba school in the Carnival parade in Sao Paulo.
• The Pfister Hotel named Nykoli Koslow as its first openly transgender Artist in Residence.
• Megan Youngren became the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Olympic marathon trials in U.S. history.
• The Philadelphia Police Academy graduated its first openly transgender officer, Benson Churgai.
• Diana Zurco became Argentina’s first openly transgender newscaster.
• Chris Mosier became the first openly transgender male athlete to ever compete in an Olympic trial alongside other men; however, he was unable to finish the race due to injury.
• The Trump administration passed a regulation removing protections for transgender patients under medical care.
• The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of protecting gay, lesbian, and transgender employees from workplace discrimination.
• The US Department of Housing and Urban Development announced plans to revert an ObamaCare-era ruling that prevented federally funded homeless shelters from discriminating against transgender people.
• Peyton Rose Michelle Theriot won election in Louisiana to the women's Democratic State Central Committee seat for the 46th District, representing St. Martin, Iberia and St. Landry, becoming the first out transgender woman elected to a political position in the state.