Leslie Feinberg is known to many as the author of Stone Butch Blues, the first mainstream novel to directly address the struggles of transgender people in the US. In addition to hir career as a writer, Feinberg was a fierce and committed organizer in LGBT, civil rights, and labor struggles from the 1970s until the present day. Ze passed away on November 15 from complications of multiple tick-borne infections.

Feinberg grew up in a working-class Jewish family in Buffalo, New York, and became the first Marxist theorist of trans liberation. An obituary co-written by Feinberg and hir wife, Minnie Bruce Pratt, details how transphobia and discrimination limited Feinberg’s access to steady employment throughout hir life and to quality medical care once hir illness became apparent.

At the end of hir life, Feinberg dedicated hirself to the cause of CeCe McDonald, a black trans woman from Minneapolis who was imprisoned after stabbing an attacker in self-defense. Leslie spoke at McDonald’s trial, declaring, “The right of self-defense against all forms of oppressions — the spirit of Stonewall — is at the heart of the demand to free McDonald.”