Jorgensen at the Jorgensen

I am a graduate of the University of Connecticut, UConn, class of 1973 (yes, I am old!). When I attended UConn, I was an aspiring writer and considered journalism as an outlet for my writing talent. So, I took a journalism class (and soon discovered that I did not want to be a journalist).

Our professor randomly assigned stories to us budding reporters. One assignment was to report on a lecture by Christine Jorgensen that the famous transwoman was presenting at UConn's Jorgensen Auditorium (no, the auditorium was not named after her).

As a closeted crossdressing 21-year-old, I was thrilled with the assignment (Ms. Jorgensen was one of my heroines), but I had to feign disinterest so as not to give anything away! In fact, I was so closeted that I feared that if anyone found out that I attended the lecture, I would become a marked man/transwoman.

I had seen photos, but had never encountered a trans-person in person, at least, not to my knowledge. Seeing Christine up on the stage giving her talk was my first trans-encounter and it was a very positive experience. There was no doubt in my mind that Christine was really a woman and it gave me pause that maybe I was one, too.

Wearing Nine West (source: Nine West).

Adam Mišík and Petr Rychlý as Petr Janů and Petr Janda on Czech Republic's version of Your Face Sounds Familiar.