2022 Transgender Pioneer Award Recipients
International Transgender Education Association and Transgender Week / Fantasia Fair are proud to announce the recipiences of the 2022 Transgender Pioneer Awards for 2022.
Established in 2022, the Pioneer Award is the transgender community’s longest established award. It is honors lifetime achievements of those who have changed the world so trans people could come together in safety and comfort. We meet in Provincetown, Massachusetts each year to honor their work and thank them for all they have done for us.
The Transgender Pioneer Award recipients for 2022 are Jude Patton (left) and Rupert Raj (right). Both have been staunch activists and clinicians and both have been active since the early 1970s. Both were instrumental in providing support and serving as positive role models for transmasculine individuals at a time when information and acceptance were scarce. Jude is located on the West Coast of the United States. Rupert was active in Ontario and British Columbia and now lives in Portugal
Jude was the first transgender person to be accepted as a member of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, the original name of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. He served on the board as consumer representative from 1979-1985. In 1982, He, Joanna Clark, Candice Brown, Joy Shaffer, and Diane Saunders formed the ACLU Transsexual Rights Committee in San Jose, California. Since the early 1970s, he has spoken widely about trans issues. He has edited two books about transgender aging. He will be present to accept his award at Transgender Week / Fantasia Fair. Jude is a physician’s assistant and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
In the mid-1970s, Jude launched an unsuccessful petition to require Ontario to cover trans medical care under the prince’s health insurance plan. In 1979, he founded the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Transsexuals. He edited its newsletter, Gender Review, until 1982. In 1988, he launched the organization Gender Worker and published its newsletter; the organization’s purpose was to assist helping professionals in their work with transgender people. In 199, he started the Trans-Men/FTM Peer-Support group in Ontario. He has a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology and has been a Canadian Certified Counselor since 1985.
Jude will be present in Provincetown in October to receive his award at Transgender Week / Fantasia Fair. Rupert, who is unable to travel, will accept his award via teleconference.
For more information on the Transgender Pioneer Award and a list of past recipients, visit http://transweek.org/pioneer-award/.
