Aaron H. Devor is a Canadian sociologist and sexologist known for researching transsexuality and transgender communities. Devor has taught at the University of Victoria since 1989 and is the former dean of graduate studies. Devor is the current Chair in Transgender Studies at the University of Victoria, and the founder and subject matter expert of The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria Libraries. He is also the founder and host of the Moving Trans History Forward conferences. Maclean's, a Canadian weekly news magazine, described Devor as "an internationally respected expert on gender, sex and sexuality."

Early life and education

Devor earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from York University in 1971, a master's degree in communications from Simon Fraser University in 1985, and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington in 1990. A trans man, Devor transitioned in 2002 at age 51.

Career

Devor was a member of the HBIGDA task force which created the sixth and seventh edition of The Standards of Care. Currently, he sits as a committee member for the eighth edition and is the Chairperson of the Archives Committee. He has collected first-person narratives of transsexual experiences and has done extensive biographical research on trans man Reed Erickson. Devor's book, The Transgender Archives: Foundations for the Future, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in the non-fiction category in 2015. In 2016, through the Tawani Foundation, Jennifer Pritzker gave a $2 million donation to create the world's first academic chair of transgender studies, at the University of Victoria in British Columbia; Devor was chosen as the inaugural chair.

Selected publications