The picture from the album cover for Christine Jorgensen Reveals (1958).

Christine Jorgensen (born George William Jorgensen, Jr. May 30, 1926 in The Bronx, New York City, USA; died May 3, 1989) was famous for having been the first widely-known individual to have sex reassignment surgery—in this case, male to female. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... is the 150th day of the year (151st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bronx redirects here. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... is the 123rd day of the year (124th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... For specialized articles on surgical procedures, see Sex reassignment surgery male-to-female and Sex reassignment surgery female-to-male. ... MTF redirects here. ...

Biography

Early life

The second child of George William Jorgensen Sr., a carpenter and contractor, and his wife, the former Florence Davis Hansen, Jorgensen grew up in the Bronx and later described herself as having been a "frail, tow-headed, introverted little boy who ran from fistfights and rough-and-tumble games".^[1]

Jorgensen graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in 1945 and shortly thereafter was drafted into the Army. Christopher Columbus High School is a public secondary school located in the Pelham Parkway, northeast section of the Bronx, New York. ... The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ...

After he was discharged from the Army, Jorgensen attended Mohawk College in Utica, New York,^[2] the Progressive School of Photography in New Haven, Connecticut, and the Manhattan Medical and Dental Assistant School in New York City, New York. He briefly worked for Pathé News. Utica was a Phoenician colony, on the African coast, near Carthage. ... This article is about the state. ... This article is about the city in Connecticut. ... Official language(s) none (de facto English) Demonym Connecticuter or Connecticutian[2] Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport[3] Largest metro area Hartford Metro Area[4] Area  Ranked 48th in the US  - Total 5,543[5] sq mi (14,356 km²)  - Width 70 miles (113 km)  - Length 110 miles (177 km... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the state. ... Pathé Newsreels were produced from 1910 until mid-1956, when the newsreels in general stopped production. ...

Sex reassignment surgery

When she returned to New York after her military service and increasingly concerned over what one obituary called her "lack of male physical development",^[3] Jorgensen heard about the possibility of sex reassignment surgery, began taking the female hormone ethinyl estradiol on her own, and researched the subject with the help of Dr. Joseph Angelo, a husband of one of Jorgensen's classmates at the Manhattan Medical and Dental Assistant School.^[4] She intended to go to Sweden, where she had found the only doctors in the world performing this type of surgery at the time. At a stopover in Copenhagen to visit relatives, however, Jorgensen met Dr. Christian Hamburger, a Danish surgeon and specialist in sex-reassignment surgery. She ended up staying in Denmark and under Dr. Hamburger's direction was allowed to begin hormone replacement therapy and eventually underwent a series of surgeries. During this first round of surgeries in Copenhagen, Jorgensen was castrated. According to an obituary, "With special permission from the Danish minister of justice, Jorgensen had her testicles removed first and her still-undeveloped penis a year later. Though technically a eunuch, Jorgensen received large doses of hormones, which led to changes in her body contours and fat distribution, and with help from the American ambassador had her passport changed to identify her as female and began life as a woman." Several years later Jorgensen obtained a vaginoplasty, when the procedure became available in the U.S., under the direction of Dr. Angelo and a medical advisor Harry Benjamin.^[5] is an orally active derivative of estradiol. ... For other uses, see Copenhagen (disambiguation). ... Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a system of medical treatment for perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, based on the assumption that it may prevent discomfort and health problems caused by diminished circulating estrogen hormones. ... Castration (also referred as: gelding, neutering, orchiectomy, orchidectomy, and oophorectomy) is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testes or a female loses the functions of the ovaries. ... A vaginoplasty is any surgical operation with the aim of correcting structural defects in the vagina or even to construct or reconstruct it. ...

Jorgensen chose the name Christine in honor of Dr. Hamburger and became a spokesperson for transsexual and transgender people. Look up Transsexuality in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A transwoman with XY written on her hand, at a protest in Paris, October 1, 2005. ...

Research into the work of Dr. Hamburger and his colleagues has uncovered a more complicated approach to transsexualism and sex-reassignment surgery, according to "Transvestism", a paper that "Jorgensen's Danish clinicians, Drs. Christian Hamburger, Georg Stürup and Dahl-Iversen, wrote for the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1953." Danish scientists "Preben Hertoft and Thorkil Sorensen who have studied the medical files and interviewed psychiatrist Dr. Georg Stürup claim that 'the original intention of the medical team was not to change a man into a woman, but to help a man who suffered from his homosexual impulses'. Hamburger and his colleagues revealed their anxiety about homosexuality when they commented: 'At any rate, from a eugenic point of view it would do no harm if a number of sexually abnormal men were castrated and thus deprived of their sexual libido.'"[1] This same research has determined that Hamburger and his colleagues argued against the creation of a vagina in a post-operative transsexual, which scholar Christine Crowle has stated as evidence that the team intended for their sexual reassignment surgeries "to produce a gender performance not a sexual performance". JAMA, published continuously since in 1883, is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal published 48 times per year. ... Preben Hertoft (1928-), Danish was a professor in medical sexology, psychiatrist, senior MD, Dr. med. ...

Publicity

A media sensation developed on December 1, 1952 when the New York Daily News carried a front-page story (under the headline "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty") announcing that in Denmark, Jorgensen had become the recipient of the first "sex change". This claim is not true, however, as the type of surgery in question had actually been performed by pioneering German doctors in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Danish artist Lili Elbe and "Dorchen", both patients of Dr Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science in Berlin, were known recipients of such operations in 1930-31. What was different in Jorgensen's case, however, was the added prescription of hormone therapy. is the 335th day of the year (336th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Lili Elbe (1886 - 1931) was the first known recipient of sexual reassignment surgery. ... Magnus Hirschfeld in 1933. ...

When Jorgensen returned to New York in February 1953, she became an instant celebrity. There has been serious speculation that Jorgensen leaked her story to the press, but in any case, the publicity created a platform for Jorgensen, who used her publicity for more than fame. New York radio host Barry Gray asked her if 1950s jokes such as "Christine Jorgensen went abroad, and came back a broad" bothered her, she laughed and said they did not at all. However, another notorious encounter demonstrated that Jorgensen could be offended by some queries: Jorgensen once appeared on The Dick Cavett Show. Cavett insulted her by asking about the status of her romantic life with her "wife", and she walked off the show; since she was the only guest scheduled, Cavett spent the rest of that show talking about how he had not meant to offend her. Barry Gray (born July 2, 1916, died December 21, 1996) was an influential American radio personality, often labelled as The Father of Talk Radio. He was born as Bernard Yaroslaw in Red Lion, New Jersey, into a Jewish family. ... The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of many talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on several television networks, including: ABC daytime (March 4, 1968–January 24, 1969) (originally titled This Morning) ABC prime time (May 26–September 19, 1969) ABC late night (December 29, 1969–January 1, 1975...

Later life

Following her vaginoplasty, Jorgensen planned to marry John Traub, a labor-union statistician, but the engagement was called off. In 1959, she announced her engagement to Howard J. Knox, a typist, in Massepequa, New York, where her father had built her a house after her reassignment surgery. The couple was unable, however, to obtain a marriage license because Jorgensen's birth certificate still listed her as biologically male. In a report about the broken engagement, The New York Times noted that Knox had lost his job in Washington, D.C., when his engagement to Jorgensen became known.^[6][7] During the 1970s and 1980s, Jorgensen toured university campuses and other venues to speak about her experiences. She was known for her directness and polished wit and once demanded an apology from Spiro T. Agnew, the U.S. vice president, when he called another politician "the Christine Jorgensen of the Republican Party".^[8] Spiro Theodore Agnew, born Spiro Anagnostopoulos (November 9, 1918–September 17, 1996), was the thirty-ninth Vice President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1973 under President Richard M. Nixon. ...

Jorgensen also worked as an actress and nightclub entertainer and recorded a number of songs.^[9]In summer stock, she played Madame Rosepettle in the play Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad. In her nightclub act, she sang several songs, including "I Enjoy Being a Girl" and at the end made a quick change into a Wonder Woman costume: as she later recalled in her act, Warner Communications, owners of the Wonder Woman character's copyright, demanded that she cease and desist from using the character, which she did, substituting a new character of her own invention, "Superwoman" which was marked by the inclusion of a large letter 'S' on her cape. Jorgensen continued her act, performing at Freddy's Supper Club on the upper east side of Manhattan until at least the Fall of 1982 when she performed twice in the Hollywood area, once at the now closed Backlot Theatre adjacent to the discotheque Studio One and later at The Frog Pond restaurant, also now closed. This was recorded and has been made available as an album on iTunes. In 1984, Jorgensen returned to Copenhagen to perform her show, and was featured in Teit Ritzau's Danish transsexual documentary film Paradiset ikke til salg (Paradise not for sale). Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamas Hung You in the Closet and Im Feelin So Sad: A Pseudoclassical Tragifarce in a Bastard French Tradition was the first play written by Arthur L. Kopit. ... For other uses, see Wonder Woman (disambiguation). ... ... Studio One is one of Reggaes most renowned record labels, having been described as the Motown of Jamaica. ... This article is about the iTunes application. ...

Jorgensen's autobiography, U.S. paperback edition

Jorgensen said in 1989, the year of her death, that she'd given the sexual revolution "a good swift kick in the pants". She died of bladder and lung cancer at age 62. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (456x737, 77 KB) Summary Christine Jorgensen A Personal Autobiography, copyright 1967 by Christine Jorgensen. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (456x737, 77 KB) Summary Christine Jorgensen A Personal Autobiography, copyright 1967 by Christine Jorgensen. ... Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. ...

References in media

Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, during his earlier career as a calypso singer under the name "The Charmer", recorded a song about Jorgensen, "Is She Is Or Is She Ain't". Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933), is the acting head of the Nation of Islam (NOI) as the National Representative of Elijah Muhammad. ... Calypso might refer to one of several things: Calypso is the name of a sea nymph in Greek mythology; Calypso music is a style of Caribbean folk music; Calypso is the name of an album sung by Harry Belafonte; Calypso is the name of a moon of Saturn; 53 Kalypso...

Jorgensen is referred to in the 1994 movie Ed Wood as the original inspiration for the movie that became Glen or Glenda?. She is also the subject of a 1970s film The Christine Jorgensen Story. Jorgensen was also referred to in the Quantum Leap episode "What Price Gloria", when Sam has leapt into a female secretary in 1961 (all his prior "leaps" having been into the bodies of men). When he reveals to a cocky boss that he is in fact a man, the boss asks him if he "pulled a Christine Jorgensen". Ed Wood is a biopic directed by Tim Burton, stars Johnny Depp as the transvestite cult movie maker Edward D. Wood Jr. ... Glen or Glenda? is a movie made in 1953, starring its director Ed Wood, Bela Lugosi, and Woods then-girlfriend Dolores Fuller. ... The Christine Jorgensen Story film poster. ... Quantum Leap is an American science fiction television series that ran for 96 episodes from March 1989 to May 1993 on the NBC network. ...

In Christine Jorgensen Reveals, a stage performance at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Jorgensen is portrayed by Bradford Louryk. To great critical acclaim, Louryk dressed as Jorgensen and performed to a genuine recorded interview with her during the 1950s while video of Rob Grace as the comically inept interviewer, Mr. Russell, played on a nearby black and white television set. The show went on to win Best Aspect of Production at the 2006 Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, and ran Off-Broadway at New World Stages in January 2006. The LP was reissued on CD by Repeat The Beat Records in 2005. Categories: Festival stubs | Edinburgh ... Dublin Gay Theatre Festival logo. ...

See also

• List of transgendered people
• List of transgender-related topics

The people on this list have been selected because their fame or notoriety was in some way due or connected to their transgender identity or behaviour. ... Transgender is a very complex topic, where consensual and precise definitions have not yet been reached. ...

References

Newsday is a daily tabloid-size newspaper that primarily serves Long Island and the New York City borough of Queens, although it is sold throughout the New York City metropolitan area. ...

External links

• A Tribute Photo Gallery and Summary
• GLTBQ.com article: Christine Jorgensen
• Christine Jorgensen at Find-A-Grave
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2005: Christine Jorgensen Reveals
• Christine Jorgensen Website, with newsreel footage, songs, and other performances