[2] In the 1980s, she was an early member of the then newly created Australian Transsexual Association, which supported trans people by lobbying for social and legal reform.

Frank Walker, New South Wales Labor Assembly person and at that time Minister for Youth and Community Services, read the book and invited Perkins to meet.

As a result, Perkins received a grant of AU$80,000 to open a center that would operate as a shelter for transgender sex workers.

The center quickly grew and, within a few years, included four houses and had both a registered nurse and a community worker on permanent staff.

[5][6] Perkins left the Gender Centre in 1985 to concentrate on writing and publishing books and articles in academic publications about transgender women and sex workers.