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"Word of Mouth" How The Trans+ Community Found Itself

International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE)

Marissa Sherrill Lynn dining with Ariadne Kane (March 1994) © Mariette Pathy Allen

Merissa Sherrill Lynn proposed the creation of a national group to organize and advocate for the community. To further this aim, IFGE published the magazine TV-TS Tapestry (1979-1995), later renamed Transgender Tapestry (1995-2009), and hosted an annual “Coming Together” conference.

IFGE Virginia Prince Award, awarded to herself (March 8, 1987)

It was here that the Virginia Prince Award was given out to Trans+ community leaders with at least ten years of service. Virginia Prince awarded it to herself (depicted in image), with other recipients including Merissa Sherrill Lynn (1942-2017), Ariadne Kane, Joanna Clark, Yvonne Cook-Riley, Jamison Green, Marsha Botzer, and Dallas Denny, among others.

Yvonne Cook-Riley Discussing The Founding of The IFGE - January 7, 2020

Yvonne Cook-Riley was at the meeting where IFGE was founded. Her oral history describes what that first meeting was like.


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