QuoteSince the treatments, Christine has been working happily and successfully as a woman color photographer.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx-army-vet-ground-breaking-sex-change-1952-article-1.2198836 (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx-army-vet-ground-breaking-sex-change-1952-article-1.2198836)
New York Daily News/04/15/2015
She was a pioneer with extremely good fashion sense. I read her book in 1972 and I never got over how she could gather the courage to do what she needed to do. An inspiration for us all.
Although, I never met her, I was saddened to learn of her death in 1989. :'(
Yes, Christine Jorgensen was the first widely publicized transgender person I can recall. There was even a movie made based on her transition. Her story made great strides toward public understanding and doubtless inspired countless TG people to come to terms with themselves.
In 1952 I was only six but could read well enough to understand newspaper articles and TV reports. Ms Jorgensen's change was the topic of the year. She described the media frenzy in her autobiography. You can believe and believe that media today has nothing on what happened in the weeks following.
One memory that stands out was when she appeared on a TV show "Arthur Murry's Dance Party" in 1953 or 54 or thereabouts. The response across the media was rage that television would broadcast such horrible trash. That was followed by weeks or months of news broadcasts and letters to the editor from viewers and editorials. It was terrifying. The hatred and pure viciousness of the attacks on her were horrendous.
Its unbelievably sad that many today are echoing the same BS today.
Later, when I realized my own status and was 12 or 13 or so, I read a report said that she was living on Long Island. We were living in Mineola at the time (in the center of Nassau county). Ms Jorgensen probably lived within bicycle range. Had I known where she was I might well have knocked on her door. That would have been a life changing memory if I didn't go all fangirl, that is. :-)
One thing that sticks out for me from memory of stories written about her was her time in the service and entertaining the members of her unit at the barracks as I recall. I don't recall any hate generated by her doing that.
I was around 16 when her book was published it kind of fried my brain
Christine Jorgenson came into town and was on a local TV talk show during prime time in the early 1960's. This was before the networks hogged all of the prime time slots. The host was a congenial sort and was a real gentleman. Me, my mom and siblings saw this show and one of my siblings asked if she was a homo. My mom said that she wasn't. I knew then that first, I am not gay, second that there were others who had the same thoughts. It took me about 13 years afterward to come out to my mother in 1977.
Joelene