Riki Anne Wilchins

Riki Wilchins is an American activist whose work has focused on the impact of gender norms.

Wilchins founded the first national transgender advocacy group, GenderPAC. Their analysis and work broadened over time to include discrimination and violence regardless of individuals' identity.

Wilchins' work and writing have often focused on youth, whom she not only sees as uniquely vulnerable to the gender system's pressures and harm, but whom she also sees as capable of "looking with fresh eyes.” Wilchins's work has been instrumental in bringing transgender rights into the mainstream LGBT movement, and has helped bring awareness of the impact of gender norms to a wider audience, and she is credited with coining the term "genderqueer.”

Since the mid-1990s, Wilchins has been highly active in founding a number of organizations and events focused on gender issues, including Camp Trans, Intersex Awareness Day, and National Gender Lobby Day, among many others.

In 2001, Wilchins's work resulted in them being selected one of just six community activists named by Time magazine among its "100 Civic Innovators for the 21st Century.”

Activist Riki Anne Wilchins founded the direct action group The Transexual Menace, as well as the organizations Hermaphrodites With Attitude and the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC). Wilchins also created the newsletter In Your Face: Political Activism Against Gender Oppression. This collection of Wilchins' flyers from the 1990s advocate for trans rights, condemn offensive behavior, and illuminate acts of violence and intolerance.