Russ, Erin

Part 1 was recorded on March 3rd, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes: 

b. 1956 

  • A short biographical overview of Erin’s life before moving to Tucson. 

  • Childhood near Syracuse, NY. Family attitudes towards education, politics, and the military. 

  • Childhood gender dysphoria, social expectations, and attempts at conformity. Language used to discuss gender in the 1960s. 

  • Political identity and family politics. 

  • College, ROTC, and path into the military. Getting married after college. 

  • Studying history and religion at the Baptist University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. 

  • Military career in the mid-1980s. 

Part 2 was recorded on March 10th, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. It covers the following themes: 

  • Military career during 1980s, continued. Terrorism and insurgency studies. 

  • End of military career in 1990 because of crossdressing.  

  • Post-military attempts to find employment. 

  • Gender identity support from parents and therapist.  

  • Move to Arizona in the mid-1990s and to Tucson in 2000. 

  • Tucson’s LGBT community in the 1990s. 

  • The process of transitioning. Community and mentors. 

  • Transgender movement and relationship with gay rights movement from the 1970s-1990s.  

  • Erin’s public outreach work from the late 2000s to 2020. 

  • Inclusion of trans people in Tucson’s gay community. 

  • Transgender youth and activism. 

  • Setbacks to the transgender rights movement in the 2020s. 

Aengus Anderson