Tuckahoe NY Pride

Mary Ann Horton is a transgender activist, computer systems architect, and internet pioneer known for early Unix networking work, including contributions to UUCP connectivity and practical infrastructure that helped expand email and netnews beyond research labs. She worked at Bell Labs and later Lucent/Avaya, influencing how systems and communities connected at scale. Beyond engineering, she became a prominent advocate for transgender inclusion in the workplace, helping shape corporate policies and mentoring others through transition. Her career blends hands-on technical impact with sustained civic leadership, showing how credibility earned in engineering can be leveraged to widen opportunity and dignity for others.

Quote: “I kept showing up to groups adding the ‘T’ to ‘GLB’.”