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An unnamed reporter noted the bureau leader “inquired minutely into [her] life and habits, found out all about [her], and after due deliberation solemnly laid down the law that [she] could either be a man or woman as [she] preferred, but [she] had to be of one sex only as far as wearing apparel was concerned.”

— Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850–1950 by Eli Erlick (41%)

Willie’s media presence tells us much about the consequences of visibility. Reporters did not know what to make of trans men during Willie’s era and thus did not generate panic or concern about it. In fact, they found creative ways of describing the young man. “Nature sometimes doesn’t know her business thoroughly and gets conflicting elements mixed in the same body,” a paper commented on Willie in early 1892. [...] Another journalist was convinced the young man could win anyone over with his charm. “With attractive features, a glib tongue, a sweet mellow voice and winsome eyes, beautiful shaped hands with long tapering fingers the youth at once attracts attention and always succeeds in making a fine impression on the first acquaintance.” Willie, like many other young white trans boys of his era, was respected—if not glamorized—in the media.

— Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850–1950 by Eli Erlick (36%)