Della Aleksander

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Della Aleksander (1923–2001) was a British teacher and campaigner for trans rights. In 1970 she had gender-affirming surgery in Casablanca and later said that hormone therapy helped her feel she was transgender. In 1971 she started the Gender Research Association International Liaison (GRAIL) and she launched a trans issues magazine called Two for One. She also joined the Transsexual Liberation Group (TLG).

In television, Aleksander co-produced and co-presented an Open Door episode in 1973—the first to feature trans women—broadcast on 2 June 1973. The show featured four trans women from the TLG: Rachel Bowen, Jan Ford, Laura Palet, and Aleksander. She wrote a piece for Gay News after the program to debunk myths about trans people. In 1974 she spoke at The First National TV TS Conference at the University of Leeds.

Aleksander studied at Birkbeck College under Roger Scruton. She was involved with far-right groups, including the League of St George, and in 1978 she met white supremacist David Duke in Belgium with other British fascists. In 1995, the magazine Searchlight described her as “one of postwar Britain’s best-known Mosleyites.” She died in 2001.