Davina Anne Gabriel

Davina Anne Gabriel (c. 1954–February 26, 2016[1]) was an active member of LGBTQ communities in Kansas City and a lesbian transgender activist. Gabriel wrote and edited for several publications, especially in the 1990s–2000s, including her own local transgender newspaper called The Fine Print. She created and contributed to TransSisters, a zine, including interviewing Sandy Stone and Leslie Feinberg.

Writing and activism

According to Gabriel, she became involved in feminist movements beginning in the 1970s, and with lesbian, gay, and transgender (then transsexual) movements in the late 1980s.[2]

Activism

In the 1990s she participated in debates about Camp Trans, a protest of the womyn-born womyn policy of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.[3][4] She took part in the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation as part of the "transgender contingent," which numbered "about forty persons".[5]

In May 1995, Gabriel and other Transexual Menace members took part in a vigil in Richardson County, Nebraska to honor Brandon Teena, a murdered transgender man, on the first day of his murderer's trial.[6] Around this time, Gabriel also worked with FTM International.[7]

Publications

Gabriel published her own local transgender newspaper called The Fine Print.[8]

She created, edited, and contributed to TransSisters: The Journal of Transsexual Feminism, an early and influential transfeminist zine, published between 1993–1995.[3][9] In the September/October 1993 issue, Gabriel said of founding the publication:[2]

"I decided to start this publication because I saw a need for a transsexual publication that presented a specifically feminist perspective, so as to create greater understanding and co-operation between the transsexual andfeminist communities, as well as to increase feminist consciousness among transsexuals, and to foster understanding of the phenomenon of transsexuality among non-transexual feminists".

Her work in TranSisters including interviewing Sandy Stone[10] and Leslie Feinberg.[11][12]

Personal life

Gabriel underwent gender-affirming surgery in the late 1970s.[2] Gabriel wrote in 1993 that "my feminist identification was among the major factors in my decision to undergo transsexual surgery".[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Obituary for Davina Anne Gabriel". The Kansas City Star. April 21, 2016. pp. A14. Retrieved 17 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Gabriel, Davina Anne (September 1993). "From the Editor". TransSisters: The Journal of Transsexual Feminism (1): 3 – via Archive.org.
  3. 1 2 Stryker, Susan; Whittle, Stephen (2013-10-18). The Transgender Studies Reader. Routledge. p. 699. ISBN 978-1-135-39884-2.
  4. ↑ Ryan, Barbara (August 2001). Identity Politics in the Women's Movement. NYU Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-8147-7478-6.
  5. ↑ Gabriel, Davina Anne (September 1993). ""We're Queer Too!:" Trans Community Demands Inclusion". TransSisters: The Journal of Transsexual Feminism (1): 13 – via Archive.org.
  6. ↑ Riemer, Matthew; Brown, Leighton (2019-05-07). We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-399-58181-6.
  7. ↑ Williams, Walter L.; Retter, Yolanda (2003). Gay and Lesbian Rights in the United States: A Documentary History. Greenwood Press. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-313-30696-9.
  8. ↑ "Gabriel , Davina Anne (undated)". UMKC Libraries Finding Aids. University of Missouri-Kansas City Special Collections and Archives. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
  9. ↑ Xavier, Jessica (1996). "A Look Back at TransSisters: The Journal of Transsexual Feminism" (PDF). Learning Trans. Retrieved 14 March 2026.
  10. ↑ Stryker, Susan (2019-08-01). "General Editor's Introduction". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 6 (3): 279–282. doi:10.1215/23289252-7549382. ISSN 2328-9252.
  11. ↑ Heaney, Emma (2016-05-01). "Women-Identified Women". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 137–145. doi:10.1215/23289252-3334295. ISSN 2328-9252.
  12. ↑ "The life and times of a gender outlaw: an interview with Leslie Feinberg by Davina Anne Gabriel". TransSisters : the journal of transsexual feminism. Skyclad Publishing Co. 1993. Retrieved 6 April 2026.

Further reading

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