Born in Buffalo, NY, Leslie Feinberg lived much of her life in New York City. While at the forefront of intersectional theory and coalition building, Feinberg became best known for her experience and politics in transgender liberation. She also consistently integrated political analysis of her own multiple identities with her consistent presence and leadership in justice movements, Feinberg was an author of both fiction and non-fiction books, including her most well-known work, Stone Butch Blues. She was an activist, organizer, and gifted speaker.

Leslie Feinberg (September 1, 1949 – November 15, 2014) was an American butch lesbian, transgender activist, communist, and author. Feinberg authored Stone Butch Blues in 1993. Her writing, notably Stone Butch Blues and her pioneering non-fiction book Transgender Warriors (1996), laid the groundwork for much of the terminology and awareness around gender studies and was instrumental in bringing these issues to a more mainstream audience.

Leslie Feinberg, who identified as an anti-racist white, working-class, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian, female, revolutionary communist, died on November 15, 2014. She/zie succumbed to complications from multiple tick-borne co-infections, including Lyme disease, babeisiosis, and protomyxzoa rheumatica, after decades of illness. Zie/she died at home in Syracuse, NY, with hir partner and spouse of 22 years, Minnie Bruce Pratt, at hir side. Hir last words were: “Remember me as a revolutionary communist.”