Misty

thanks to archivists at the GLBT Historical Archives in California, we now have open access to the first four years of TGForum.com, as compiled on an official CD-ROM back in 1999. it is an absolutely bonkers treasure trove of early-internet trans culture and politics, warts and all, and I wrote about it for Them!

this was a really fun piece to research but took a LONG time, so I hope you enjoy reading it! I have a few stories that I had to cut for room (I already doubled my planned word count as it is) so I will thread them here soon. If you find something cool in this archive I didn't mention, let me know in the comments!!

EDIT: I totally forgot that the archivist is on cohost! Give @caraesten some appreciation (and thanks @atomicthumbs for the reminder)

#lgbtq history #TGForum #trans history #queer history #1990s

Misty @dog12/14/2023, 11:52 PM

Really fun seeing a lot of this. I think probably most people I know already know this, but I'm moderately old in "trans years". I started exploring the trans web in the 90s and came out in person in 2003, so a bunch of this is the kind of thing I saw back when it was new. I don't share that nostalgia with many people I know, so I don't see it around very often!

(Though I'll say, it's kind of funny to headline this with a trans meme that's at least 20 years newer than the actual stuff the article's about)

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in reply to @samanthaistyping's post:

Nire Bryce @NireBryce11/23/2023, 10:50 AM

god the CD pun too

samantha riedel @samanthaistyping11/23/2023, 6:00 PM

this reminded me of one of the tidbits that didn't fit in the piece: in the pictorial section you'll find several founders of what is only referred to as "ETVC." A little digging and I found out it was a community group in California. The acronym stood for "Educational TV Channel."

(they lost the pun in '98 and became just TransGender San Francisco)

Irenes (many)@ireneista11/23/2023, 8:45 PM

ahahahahahaaha amazing!!!

Nire Bryce @NireBryce11/23/2023, 9:01 PM

hahaha

mei 🌒&@ckie12/17/2023, 12:37 AM

wow transfemmes have been meowing for a lonngg time

samantha riedel @samanthaistyping12/17/2023, 1:01 AM

We're living up to the example of our nyancestors

in reply to @dog's post:

Maya @Mayabotics12/15/2023, 6:38 AM

Oh, Cara made a neat find.

I always wondered what the subscribers saw.

Though, after briefly looking through the CD, I don't miss the 40s/50s pinup art being all over trans websites, or the way access to certain resources was gatekept. (It felt like the hostility of regulars towards a questioning preteen/teen was directly proportional to the amount of pinup art present on a forum/site.)

I wish I could remember the name/url of the forum from the late 90s/early 2000s mostly dedicated to computer games (with a lesser focus on other media) that were either about genderbending and/or being trans. They had a collection of links to small games that members had made in programs like Klik & Play, RPGMaker 95 or 2000, or in a BASIC dialect like Blitz BASIC or DarkBASIC. I remember the userbase there was much younger.

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