By Ed Childs and Will Hodgkinson
June 17, 2026

Boston — June 14. High school seniors belonging to the Somerville High School Local History Club have restored three years’ worth of video footage of LGBTQIA2S+ liberation activist Leslie Feinberg discussing the struggle against gender oppression. With help from teachers and Edward Childs, longtime Boston Workers World Party member and Unite Here Local 26 organizer, the student volunteers worked on the project for the entire last year. They spent hours after school at the Somerville Media Center, where they restored the footage, which otherwise could have been lost.

In one recovered video, shot in 1996 at Arlington Street Church in Boston, Feinberg discusses the interconnected struggles for gender and class liberation she explored in her now-classic book, “Trangender Warriors,” published that year. “I needed to know if I can turn to others in societies who don’t face the same oppression that I do and ask for their solidarity and express mine,” Feinberg said of the inspiration for Transgender Warriors.

“We don’t just need language to talk about our oppressions,” Feinberg added. “We need to go to places, to go where we’re safe, places to go where we’re honored and recognized as allies. Even if what we experience every day isn’t identical, we’re up against the same enemies out there. We get just as wounded and weary out there, and we need to find each other.”

Addressing the audience at the church, Feinberg said: “If you are battling transphobia and genderphobia, if you’re fighting racism and misogyny and antisemitism, if you’re fighting for disabled access and education and healthcare, jobs and housing, then I say to you: Look around this room and see your allies. Look around this room, because we in fact are the warriors that history is depending on.”

The footage also includes interviews in which audience members discuss the possibilities for gender liberation. One ally said: “In every area where gender touches us, the transgender liberation movement brings liberation to people. It brings greater freedom of expression and understanding and compassion. It works gently to root out the imposition of norms of behavior and stereotypes of behavior. And it works to end the repression, the violence [against], and the hatred of those who transgress gender norms.”

The students are planning to host local screenings of the footage this coming summer in order to highlight Feinberg’s contributions to the fight against gender oppression. Given the Trump administration’s fascist assault on LGBTQIA2S+ communities, Feinberg’s teachings as presented in these videos are more critical than ever.