Digital Transgender Archive

Lou Sullivan diary, 1987-1988

Lou Sullivan's diary for 1987-1988, following him from ages 36-37. Sullivan continued to live with AIDS during this time; he experienced several significant health scares, and his overall health was on the decline. He nonetheless kept a busy schedule whenever it was possible, continuing his involvement with the trans men's organization FTM, gay men's disability community, and the Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California. He also sought out several casual partners in San Francisco's gay community, maintaining an ongoing connection with one. Sullivan also achieved a major personal goal this year in signing a contract to publish his biography of Jack Bee Garland. He continued to do archival research, traveling as far as Hawaii, to complete the book, and handed in the manuscript in the late autumn. In November, despite his declining health, Sullivan had an additional minor revision to his bottom surgery. He ended the year on an upbeat note, writing that he'd been lucky to survive it. (Note: this diary volume's plain white cover was not scanned; no text is missing.) Louis Graydon Sullivan (1951-1991) was a gay trans man from Milwaukee, WI who lived much of his adult life in San Francisco. A diarist, amateur historian, and administrative assistant, Sullivan is best known for the detailed and thoughtful diary he kept from childhood until his death from AIDS at age 39.