Editing Billy Tipton (section)

== Early life ==
Billy Lee Tipton was born in [[Oklahoma City]] on December 29, 1914. Tipton grew up in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], where he was raised by an aunt after his parents divorced when he was four.<ref name="HIST" /> As a high school student, Tipton went by the nickname "Tippy" and became interested in music (especially [[jazz]]), playing piano and saxophone.<ref name="HIST" /> Tipton was not allowed to join the all-male school band at [[Southwest High School (Kansas City, Missouri)|Southwest High School]]. He returned to Oklahoma for his final year of high school and joined the school band at Connors State College High School.<ref name="HIST">{{cite news |last=Blecha |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Blecha|url=https://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7456 |title=Tipton, Billy (1914-1989): Spokane's Secretive Jazzman |website=[[HistoryLink]] |date=September 17, 2005 |access-date=February 1, 2007}}</ref>

Around 1933, Tipton started [[breast binding|binding his breasts]] and presenting stereotypically masculine traits.<ref name="TDN" /> As Tipton began a more serious music career, he "decided to permanently take on the role of a male musician", adopting the name Billy Lee Tipton.<ref name="HIST" /> By 1940, Tipton was living as a man in private life as well.<ref name="TDN">{{cite web|url=https://tdn.com/business/local/most-notorious-billy-tipton-was-a-self-made-man/article_0371d18c-21fa-5a82-af0a-2e63a1d5d723.html|title=Most Notorious — Billy Tipton was a self-made man|work=[[The Daily News (Longview, Washington)|The Daily News]]|location=Longview, Washington|last=Slape|first=Leslie|date=April 23, 2006|access-date=December 16, 2018}}</ref>