Allison Woolbert
Allison D. Woolbert (formerly Dennis Wayne Woolbert) is a trans activist from New Jersey who was most well-known for running TERF Tracker, a website he had founded harass feminists. After it was revealed that he had a past conviction for sexually molesting a 15 year-old relative, he seems to have disappeared from the Internet.
Professional life
According to his public Linkedin profile, Woolbert has been working in IT since the early 1980s.[1]
His many early job descriptions include:
- 1982: IBM: Mail Room
- 1983 - 1987: U.S. Air Force: Maintenance Statistical Analyst, Computer Programmer
- 1983 - 1986: Radio Shack: Assistant Manager
- 1987 - 1988: Interwest Bank of Arizona: Mainframe Computer Manager, Mainframe Installer
- 1988 - 1992: Simply Computers: PC Sales, Assembly, Tech Support
- 1989: Wheaton Glass: Maintenance Software Programmer
- 1989: Mannington Mills: Engineering Assistant/Programmer
- 1990: PSE&G: Maintenance Software Programmer
- 1990 - 1992: Xerox: Technician/Operator
In August 1995, Woolbert founded his own software development business, Phoenix Consultants Group, Inc., which seems to still exist.[2]
His Linkedin profile also lists an entry for 2003 titled "Private Business Owner" and with the description: "Custom cabinet maker, furniture maker and beautiful handmade gifts from exotic woods of the world."
A later 2016 entry on the same page lists him as the president of his multi-generation carpentry family business. The decision to move away from IT and into the family business in 2016 might or might not be related to the 2015 revelation of his past as a sex offender...
Trans activism
There seems to be no public information as to when exactly Woolbert decided to start living as a transwoman, and when he began being involved in trans activism, but the latter seems to be the early 2010s.
The website NonProfitFacts.com, lists a tax report by the Transgender Human Rights Institute (THRI) for 2012 period, apparently filed by Woolbert.[3] The income is listed as zero dollars so it seems the organization did not start to be active until later.
In October 2013, Woolbert started a Kickstarter campaign to create the Transgender Violence Tracking Portal (TVTP).[4] The fundraiser started with a goal of $3,500 and gained $4,772 in total. In a November 2013 interview published on Huffpost, Woolbert explains why he believes there to be a need for tracking anti-transgender violence, and how his software development business started providing the technologies needed to start the TVTP.[5] A follow-up article from October 2014 talks about how the TVTP had been successfully set up at that point.[6]
In December 2014, the THRI started a petition against "transgender conversion therapy" after the suicide of a 17 year-old teenager.[7] The petition garnered about 350,000 signatures and some mainstream media attention.[8]
Revelation of past sexual offense
On January 6, 2015, the Twitter account @TERFTracker which was apparently not controlled by Woolbert anymore at that point,
- ↑ Allison Woolbert, Linkedin.
- ↑ Allison Woolbert, Crunchbase.
- ↑ Transgender Human Rights Institute Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey (NJ). NonProfitFacts.com.
- ↑ Allison Woolbert (October 7, 2013). Transgender Violence Tracking Portal. kickstarter.com.
- ↑ A.J. Walkley (November 11, 2013). Allison Woolbert on the Need for Tracking of Anti-Transgender Violence. HuffPost.
- ↑ A.J. Walkley (October 10, 2014). Transgender Violence Tracking Portal: One Year Later. HuffPost.
- ↑ Enact Leelah's Law to Ban Transgender Conversion Therapy. Change.org. December 31, 2014.
- ↑ Transgender teen’s death inspires petition against conversion therapy. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). January 2, 2015.