Stone Butch Blues is a novel by Leslie Feinberg. Written from the perspective of stone butch lesbian Jess Goldberg, it intimately details her life in the last half of the 20th century in New York.

While fictional, the work takes large inspiration from Feinberg's lived experiences, describing it as "Like my own life, this novel defies easy classification. If you found Stone Butch Blues in a bookstore or library, what category was it in? Lesbian fiction? Gender studies? [...] this book is a lesbian novel and a transgender novel—making 'trans' genre a verb, as well as an adjective." They also describe it as their "call to action."

While Stone Butch Blues is a heavy read as noted by its advisory warning, it is frequently discussed as an essential work for LGBT communities, as it "never shies away from portraying the anti-Semitism, classism, homophobia, anti-butch animus, and transphobia that protagonist Jess Goldberg faced on a daily basis—but it also shows the healing power of love and political activism."

The narrative of Stone Butch Blues follows the life of Jess Goldberg, who grows up in a working-class area of Buffalo, New York in the 1940s. Her parents, frustrated with Jess's gender nonconformity, eventually institutionalize Jess in a psychiatric ward for three weeks. When she reaches puberty and feels the weight of gendered difference, Jess learns of a gay bar from a coworker. There, she meets drag queens, butches, and femmes. Butch Al and Jacqueline take Jess in and teach her about lesbian roles and culture. After a police raid, the bar closes and Jess loses touch with Butch Al and Jacqueline. At school, football players harass Jess, tackling and gang-raping her. Traumatized, she drops out of school the next day, packing her bags and running away from home to a lesbian bar, where a butch, Toni, offers to let Jess sleep on her couch.

Jess finds her place in the lesbian community of Buffalo while the cops continue to raid gay bars. Jess is arrested, beaten, and raped by them. In a traumatized state, Jess and Toni fight, and Jess is left houseless again. She is taken in by Angie, a femme sex worker. The two have an intimate conversation and then sex. When Angie attempts to touch her, Jess cringes. Angie identifies Jess as a stone butch, assuring Jess that there is nothing wrong with being stone.

Jess gets a factory job and gets involved in union organization, but is alienated by male coworkers. One man intentionally jams Jess's machine, severely injuring Jess and leaving her unemployed. At her next job, Jess meets Theresa. Theresa is fired after opposing her boss for sexually harassing her, and Jess begins to date her. With Theresa, Jess matures, learns to take responsibility in relationships, and softens her stony exterior. Jess proposes, and they are unofficially wedded at the bar, a drag queen leading the procession.

Cops continue raids and retaliation increases, the crowd inspired by the Stonewall riots. Jess and the others are arrested, beaten, and raped by the police. Theresa, who takes care of Jess after raids, attends feminist meetings, where others treat her love of butches as a betrayal of the feminist cause. Meanwhile, Jess talks at length about her gender confusion, feeling like neither man nor woman. Theresa is confused and encourages Jess to forget about it, but the two later argue over Jess's gender. Jess learns about, and decides to pursue, medical transition. Theresa disapproves, and they break up.

Jess starts taking testosterone, gets chest reconstruction surgery, and begins to pass as a male. While relieved to be safer in public, Jess has complex feelings about her loss of visibility as a lesbian. She asks out Annie, a barista, and they have a date at Annie's house. Before they have sex, Jess slips into her strap-on without Annie noticing, effectively passing as male through their encounter. The next day, Jess accompanies Annie to a wedding, where Annie makes several homophobic comments. Horrified by Annie's use of slurs and insinuation that gay people are sex offenders, Jess leaves.