LGBTQIA+ History Month 2023: Alan Hart (1890 – 1962)
To celebrate LGBTQIA+ History Month 2023, we are showcasing profiles for some of the incredible microbiologists and virologists from history who were part of the LGBTQIA+ community. It is important for this community to claim their past, celebrate their present and create their future.
Alan Hart was an American physician and radiologist in the field of tuberculosis research. As he was growing up in Oregon, he was free to dress and present as male, with his family largely supportive and accepting of his gender expression. During his school years, he would often submit essays under a male pseudonym, and published work in local newspapers and college publications as ‘anonymous boy’, A. L. H. or A. Hart. He obtained his medical degree in 1917, the University of Oregon Medical Department in Portland.
In the early 20th century, tuberculosis (TB) was the biggest killer in America. However, with no treatment available for the disease in its late stages, the best hope was early detection. Although it was estimated that one in four patients suffered from TB, many were asymptomatic in the early stages, but could still spread the disease. Hart pioneered techniques to detect TB in its early stages using x-ray photography, allowing treatment of patients before the disease progressed, often saving
their lives. This also meant patients could be isolated from the rest of the population, preventing the spread of the disease. Hart was a skilled writer and wrote fundamental texts on the detection, prevention and treatment of TB for both technical and general audiences.
Thanks to Hart’s work, by the time antibiotics were introduced in the 1940’s the TB death rate had been cut to one fifteenth. He was placed in charge of a large-scale x-ray screening program for TB in Idaho, and similar programs in other states based on Hart’s leadership and methodologies have been credited with saving thousands of lives.
Hart was one of the first trans men to undergo surgery in the United States and began taking synthetic testosterone when it first became available. After his transition, he was quoted saying in a local paper “For years I had been unhappy. With all the inclinations and desires of the boy I had to restrain myself to the more conventional ways of the other sex. I have been happier since I made this change than I ever have in my life, and I will continue this way as long as I live. Very few people can understand […] I came home to show my friends that I am ashamed of nothing.” However, him and his wife Inez were later forced to move after being outed by a former classmate, an experience which he found traumatic, and unfortunately happened more than once. This put strain on his marriage, and him and Inez eventually divorced. He then married his second wife Edna, and the couple remained together until Hart’s death.
He also had a second career as a fiction novelist, with his stories often focussed on social issues in the medical field, with characters and stories reflecting Hart’s own personal feelings and experiences during a time when trans identities were very rarely recognised in society. Since Hart’s time, much progress has been made in recognising trans identities, but there is still a way to go in the fight for trans rights and acceptance.