Rusty Mae Moore

Rusty Mae Moore (October 25, 1941 – February 23, 2022) was an American transgender rights activist and educator.^[1][2][3] She ran a de facto homeless shelter for transgender people in the 1990s and 2000s, known as the Transy House.^[1] One such resident was Sylvia Rivera, one of the most prominent voices in trans and queer activism, who lived at Transy House until her death in 2002. ^[4]

Biography

Moore was born on October 25, 1941, in Sewickley, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh), and she grew up in nearby Aliquippa.^[5] In 1963, she married Nancy Voigt, and in 1970 they had a daughter, Jonica Melanie Moore, in São Paulo, Brazil; the couple later divorced.^[1] In 1978, Moore married Sara Lee Zug; that same year they had a daughter, Amanda Lee Zug Moore, and in 1983 a son, Colin McGeorge Zug-Moore. Moore and Zug separated then divorced in the early 1990s; she subsequently came out as transgender to her family. Moore then entered into a relationship with Chelsea Goodwin, and they married in 2018.^[1]

Moore died as a result of cardiovascular complications due to advanced Alzheimer's disease on February 23, 2022, in Pine Hill, New York.^[1]