200 Years of LGBTQIA+ History

From Shadows to Pride — UK & Global Timeline

Source Record

Who Was the Public Universal Friend?

Why this source is used

Museum of the American Revolution article on the Public Universal Friend, an eighteenth-century religious leader who identified as neither male nor female.

Start with the answer

Start with the answer What do gender-diverse historical lives show? They show that people have crossed, rejected or reworked gender categories across many centuries, cultures and institutions. Read the topic guide Gender-Diverse Historical Lives Gender-diverse lives appear throughout history, from religious leaders and soldiers to Indigenous cultural ambassadors, surgeons and early transition pioneers.

Source Status

Publisher
Museum of the American Revolution
Type
organisation
Reliability
medium
Cited by
3 pages

Source Links

Open original source https://www.amrevmuseum.org/who-was-the-public-universal-friend Accessed 4 June 2026 Open archived copy https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.amrevmuseum.org/who-was-the-public-universal-friend

Used by Topics

Gender-Diverse Historical Lives

Used by Questions

What do gender-diverse historical lives show?

Used by Timeline Events

October 1776 CulturalPeople

The Public Universal Friend — Genderless Religious Leader

After recovering from a severe fever in 1776, Jemima Wilkinson declared that they had died and been reborn as a genderless evangelist called the 'Public Universal Friend.' The Friend rejected all gendered names and pronouns, dressed in a style that was neither conventionally male nor female, and preached across the northeastern United States for over 40 years. The Friend founded a religious community in western New York and insisted on being referred to without any gendered language.