Della Aleksander

For the Eastenders character, see Della Alexander.

Della Aleksander (1923–2001) was a British teacher and campaigner for trans rights.^[1][2] She was a co-producer of an episode of the current affairs programme Open Door, which was the first to feature trans women. She was a member of fascist organisations, such as the League of St George.

Biography

Born in 1923,^[3] she went to Casablanca for gender alignment surgery in 1970.^[4] She described how it was not until she took hormone therapy that she felt herself to be transsexual.^[5] In 1971, she established Gender Research Association International Liaison (GRAIL).^[4]

Moonshadow 1973, 12: p. 5 reports on Open Door and Aleksander

Aleksander launched a magazine entitled Two for One, which addressed trans issues.^[6] She was a member of the Transsexual Liberation Group (TLG).^[2] In 1973, she co-produced and co-presented an episode of the current affairs programme Open Door, which gave four trans women from the TLG a platform to discuss National Health Service (NHS) care and societal attitudes to trans issues.^[2][4][7][8] The programme was first broadcast on 2 June 1973.^[8] The other women on the programme were Rachel Bowen, Jan Ford and Laura Palet.^[9] Aleksander wrote a comment piece for Gay News after the programme, myth-busting some trans issues.^[10] In 1974, she spoke at The First National TV TS Conference held at the University of Leeds.^[11]

Aleksander was associated with far-right politics. In 1995, Searchlight described her as "one of postwar Britain's best-known Mosleyites".^[1] She was a pupil of Roger Scruton's at Birkbeck College and was a member of the League of St George.^[12] As a member of the league, she met with white supremacist David Duke in 1978 in Belgium, along with other British fascists.^[13] She died in 2001.^[3]