German doctor, sexologist and writer Harry Benjamin was BOTD in 1885. Born in Berlin in the German Empire to a middle-class family, he served in the Prussian Guards before training as a doctor at the University of Tübingen. In 1913, he visited the United States to study a potential cure for tuberculosis. His return journey was interrupted by the outbreak of World War One, and he was captured by the British Royal Navy. Faced with the prospect of imprisonment, he chose to return to the United States, settling in New York City where he established his own medical practice. He specialised in the emerging field of endocrinology, developing an interest in hormone treatment to reverse the ageing process. After the war, he returned regularly to Germany, making regular visits to Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sex Research) and befriended American sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. In 1948, Kinsey asked Benjamin to treat a young biologically male patient who identified as female and had resisted psychoanalytical treatment. Building on Kinsey’s theories of a scale of sexual orientation, Benjamin concluded that gender identity also existed on a continuum, and began treating his patient with estrogen and arranging for them to travel to Germany for gender reassignment surgery. He went on to treat hundreds of trans patients, helpoing found the American Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, and criticising the use of drugged detention, electro-convulsive therapy and lobotomies to “cure” gender dysmorphia. In 1952, his patient Christine Jorgensen became internationally famous after publicly announcing her gender transition, bringing extensive media attention to Benjamin and his work. He also treated philanthropist Reed Erickson, who helped fund an educational foundation to raise public awareness about trans identity and establish gender reassignment clinics in the United States. In 1966, Benjamin published The Transsexual Phenomenon, differentiating trans identity from homosexuality and transvestism and advocating for hormone treatment and reassignment surgery for trans patients. Though widely criticised by the medical fraternity, the book became an international bestseller, and became known as “the transsexual’s Bible”, credited with raising awareness about trans identity. The resulting publicity made Benjamin one of the most well-known physicians in the world, and he treated over 1,000 trans patients, including journalist Jan Morris, composer Wendy Carlos and tennis star Renée Richards, eventually retiring in 1975, aged 90. In 1979, the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association was formed, establishing medical standards for the treatment of gender dysphoria, largely based on Benjamin’s writings. Benjamin married a woman named Gretchen in 1925, who became actively involved in his medical and philanthropic work. They remained together until Benjamin’s death in 1986, aged 101.